Blog | Page 12 of 14 | World Heritage Sites

View from a height over a white sand beach in a bay, enclosed by land on either side. Turquoise blue water, a few scattered people..

Galápagos Islands

An archipelago that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution and teems with wildlife found nowhere else.

Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak

A 4th-century tomb containing frescoes that are masterpieces of Hellenistic Thracia.

A view of Edinburgh castle, with a sunset sky behind it. The castle has an arched entryway and much higher walls behind the entry, with rounded walls and crenellations.

Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

A medieval Old Town and a neoclassical New Town that harmonize beautifully and that influenced European urban planning.

Two large arches in the center serve as the gateway. Two floors above lined with arched windows, an extra floor forms a short tower on the left side of the gateway. The whole is made of carved stone that looks dirty.

Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier

A collection of Roman ruins showing the importance of the “Rome of the North” in Germany.

Looking down an aisle or cloister of the cathedral: gothic arches overhead, gothic windows on the left, tombs set between the arches on the right.

Burgos Cathedral

A magnificent example of Gothic architecture.

Everglades National Park

A vast wilderness of water and grass, habitat for many species, including endangered.

Facing the altar, with some of the side walls and arched ceiling visible. Every inch is ornately decorated with religious and natural imageray, as well as architectural features like arches and such. Literally all of it is covered in gold.

Historic Town of Ouro Preto

City of Black Gold and treasury of baroque and Portuguese colonial architecture.

A row of four enormous statues, seen from the side, guard the entranceways to the temple. Each has its arms crossed across its chest and each has a long straight beard.

Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis

Extensive temples and tombs that illuminate the history of ancient Egyptian civilization in architecture, art and text.

The Church of St. Trophime in Arles has a Romanesque entranceway, shown in this photo. Rounded arches above a double door, pillars on each side of the door.

Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments

A grand Roman city and its later Romanesque additions, well-preserved in Arles city center.

A partial view of the Jeronimos Monastery shows a very ornate arched entrance, with lots of decorative embellishment around and above it. Along the roofline are filigreed crenellations and a corner of the building has a dome-topped little tower.

Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon

Two striking buildings from Portugal’s “Golden Age” of global exploration and seafaring.

Grimeton Radio Station

For radio buffs, a surviving operational example of pre-electronic radio technology.

A view looking up the drive to the castle. It stands on a hill, and in this photo 4 of the octagonal towers show, with two of them framing the main entrance.

Castel del Monte

An unusual castle expressing Frederick II’s search for perfection, leading him to design the castle around the number 8.

From a river, looking onto the land, which is covered with tropical greenery. Two very steep mountains rise behind the riverbank.

Trang An Landscape Complex

A stunning rural landscape of steep karst mountains, river valleys, rice fields and villages.

A nighttime shot with, on the left, the wall of a building with 2 stories, each a row of rounded archways. Beyond that, a stately-lookng building: white with classical columns lining the front. Between the two, a lighted sculpture: a high arch, lit white, with a large white star where it touches the ground.

City of Verona

A city exemplifying 2000 years of uninterrupted artistic and architectural development.

St Kilda

An isolated island of dramatic landscapes: a nature sanctuary, with ample evidence of human fortitude in such a remote spot.

A small building standing apart from other buildings, the gatehouse at Lorsch has two stories. The ground floor is open, with 3 arches front and back, so, from this front view, you can see through the building. The upper story has 3 small windows. The facade has rather intricate stonework, with a checkerboard pattern of red and light brown bricks. A half-round structure has been added at each end.

Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch

A rare example of architecture from the Carolingian period.

Speyer Cathedral

A landmark of Romanesque architecture dating to the 11th century.

A view from a hill looks across a valley. In the valley a lot of houses, quite close together, in bright colors. They extend up the valley and also down right to the sea on the right. The sea is deep blue. A forest-covered hill rises on the other side of the valley and, beyond that, two taller pointed hills, one partly behind the other.

Pitons Management Area

A nature reserve containing two picturesque volcanic spires along with the remains of the volcano that formed them.

A row of houses on the other side of a river: very much a Dutch style of facade, tall and narrow with a variety of different roof shapes. Unlike in the Netherlands, though, they are painted in lots of different colors. In front of them, between the water and the buildings: outdoor cafe seating with umbrellas.

Historic Area of Willemstad, Inner City and Harbour, Curaçao

A colorful, dynamic and diverse Caribbean island capital with four distinct historical districts.

Tasmanian Wilderness

A diverse group of nature reserves that are important for biological diversity and that serve as refuge to many species endemic to Australia.

A round, 2-3 story structure with stone walls, an ornate Arabic-inspired entrance and window frames.

Cultural Landscape of Sintra

A fine collection of fanciful Romantic-style palaces and castles.

A very ornate building of stone: arched openings all along the ground floor, windows on the upper two floors that are all surrounded by decorative stonework and with iron balconies, and a small bell tower in the center top with three bells in a row.

Old City of Salamanca

An ancient city with stunning architecture in Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

In a shaded grove, a large abstract artwork that has rather organic shapes with an arch extending over them.

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

An ancient forest where Yoruba gods reside and ancient religious practices continue.

A view of a lake with very dry-looking hills around it. The water is greenish and a flock of flamingos makes a pink spot in it.

Lake Turkana National Parks

A huge nature reserve, home to many threatened species and important fossil remains.

The photo looks up at the building, and shows the roof lines: it has crenellations, but more ornate than the usual castle crenellations: these have decorative carvings. the lower part of the building is painted pastel yellow.

La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia

A masterpiece of late-Gothic architecture, used as a trading hall in the silk trade.

High rocks like columns. Front center, low in the photo, is a monastery, in white plaster with a red roof, on a small outcropping. Behind it is a far taller rock, and at the very top right of the photo, more buildings are visible, looking tiny on the top of the rock. Mountains in the distance behind.

Meteora

Perched on high rocks, these monasteries served as places of retreat and prayer for monastic communities.

A row of columns, all broken at the top. The nearest is square while the ones beyond it are cylindrical.

Archaeological Site of Carthage

Ruins of the heart of a great trading empire and cultural hub.

A cobbled street curves ahead, lined by simple two-story houses, each covered in plaster and painted a pastel white or brown.

Jewish Quarter and St Procopius’ Basilica in Třebíč

A historical Jewish neighborhood and a Catholic Basilica illustrate how Jews and Christians co-existed peacefully.

The front of a palace: a symmetrical facade about 3 stories high. It's made of light pinkish stone, ornately carved and/or painted. The central entrance is arched, with a slight point at the top of the arch and a smaller arched doorway within.

Jaipur City, Rajasthan

A planned 18th-century walled city, famous for its pink architecture.

Closeup of the top of an archway and the wall above it. Every inch is carved with extremely detailed decorations : swirls and complicated shapes, along with some Arabic writing.

Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada

A remarkably well-preserved complex of medieval Muslim architecture mixing Moorish and Spanish elements.

The fortress walls on the left, with rounded towers flanking a gate. A stone bridge with multiple arches leads into the gate. Along the wall are two further round guard towers with pointed roofs.

Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne

A classic medieval fortified town with intact walls, a castle, and a Gothic cathedral.

On the left, the facade of a large building, perhaps a church, made of stone with a flat facade but decorative windows. Straight ahead, a view over the red roofs of the city.

Historic Centre of Oporto

A beautiful urban landscape with diverse historical architecture in a range of styles.

A view along a row of buildings in Hoi An, all one or two stories tall, with a flat-topped facade. They're painted in shades of light orange and are very colorful with chains of mostly red paper lanterns hanging down their facades and draped across and above the street as well.

Hoi An Ancient Town

An ancient and well-preserved trading port with traditional wooden buildings that show the traces of indigenous, Chinese, Japanese and European influences.

A pretty row of single story houses: all painted white but with bright paint of various colors around windows and doors.

Paraty and Ilha Grande – Culture and Biodiversity

Colonial architecture, traditional communities, and large and richly diverse nature reserves.

A low-ceilinged room, carved out of rock. At the back are two archways (carved, not built). Two people stand in the left-hand archway, showing that the height is about twice a human's height. The right-hand one is larger, and through it more rough-hewn space can be seen in another "room."

Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

A mysterious underground burial site dating to 4000 BC.

In this partial view of Park Guell, two buildings are visible against a much wider view of the city and the sea. The two buildings are brown stone with colorful roofs that make them look like something out of a fairy tale: then come to a point in a series of wavy shapes. The house on the right also has a tall spire in blue and white tiles with a cross on the top.

Works of Antoni Gaudí

Outstanding works of modernist architecture bringing together a variety of influences from the 19th and 20th centuries.