Europe Archives | Page 3 of 8 | World Heritage Sites

Looking down a ruined church with intact walls but no ceiling. Walls in stripes of stone and brick, archways along both sides.

Butrint

A little-known archeological site in southern Albania with ruins from centuries of occupiers.

The exterior of Selimiye Mosque with two very tall minarets.

Selimiye Mosque and its Social Complex

A mosque complex representing the height of Ottoman architectural achievement.

An oval stone-walled structure with a flat top.

Talayotic Menorca

Numerous archeological sites with dry-stone structures dating to the Bronze Age and Late Iron Age.

Megalithic Temples of Malta

Seven impressive stone structures used for ritual purposes during the Bronze Age.

A view of the tops of a group of palm trees.

Palmeral of Elche

An extraordinary palm grove dating to the Arab period in Spain.

A large elegant palace of five stories or so.

Royal Domain of Drottningholm

A magnificent and remarkably well-preserved 18th-century palace and grounds.

A view of the whole Pontcysyllte aqueduct: tall arches over low-lying ground.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

A 19th-century engineering achievement; an elegant structure that still functions to carry a canal high above the ground.

Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge

Palaces and other structures that tell the story of the 70-year sojourn in France of the Catholic papacy in the 14th century.

Looking up at a very large satellite dish on a complicated structure of steel bars and struts.

Jodrell Bank Observatory

Location where radio astronomy was developed, leading to a host of new discoveries about the universe.

An arch of ice on very smooth reflective water.

Ilulissat Icefjord

A fjord in Greenland where a very active glacier called Sermeq Kujalleq calves enormous icebergs into the sea: a breathtaking sight.

Looking straight down the canal, a small bridge crosses it, with a bicycle passing over it.

Canal du Midi

A 360-km canal plus locks, tunnels and bridges: a 17th-century feat of engineering.

A park bench in the foreground, a big view of valley and mountains in the background.

Durmitor National Park

An area of dramatic mountainous scenery, dense forests, glacial lakes and deep canyons.

A point of land and a cluster of red-roofed buildings, seen from above.

Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor

A beautiful area around the Bay of Kotor with authentic, well-preserved architecture.

Looking up at the front of the cathedral: two square towers, very lacy with many vertical gothic openings, rose window at the center above the central entryway, lots of statue niches with figures and also gargoyles.

Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and Palace of Tau, Reims

Three medieval structures central to the history of Christianity and coronations in France.

Front of a church - 2 storeys, arches along the edge of the roof as well as above the entrances.

Archaeological Site of Mystras

Atmospheric ruins of a complete Late Byzantine city.

Seen across the square, a stately building - a palace - in an 18th-century baroque style.

Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d’Alliance in Nancy

Three elegant 18th-century city plazas.

An entrahce with 3 arches, decorated in tile and brick. Symmetrical wings of the building one either side.

Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau

Two exceptional examples of Catalan Art Nouveau architecture in Barcelona designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

View across a hilly terrain with a castle in the distance. The hills are covered with the stripes of vineyards.

Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato

A region of northern Italy representing excellence in winegrowing and winemaking.

A ruin with walls intact and a very large interal arch, inside of which stand two almost complete pillars.

Villa Adriana (Tivoli)

A lavish retreat built for Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century.

View down a long narrow room with stone walls and a glass roof. The floor is covered in a mosaic with images of people and animals.

Villa Romana del Casale

The ruins of a Roman villa with remarkably well-preserved mosaics.

An attractive narrow city street, with buildings only 2-3 stories high; one of them looks like a gateway.

The Historic Centre of Guimarães

A charming medieval city center, considered the birthplace of Portuguese nationhood.

A view of the vineyards seems to go on forever: very flat land, with small areas divided by lots of stone walls, vines growing between them, close to the ground.

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

Viniculture in a hostile environment made possible through human ingenuity.

A stone church with a small open bell tower in its center with 4 bells visible.

Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias

Six buildings that are unique to the short-lived Asturian monarchy.

A marea with black paving stones on the ground, a wall of standing stones at the far end.

Taputapuātea

An ancient site of great historical and cultural significance to indigenous Polynesians.

A drawing of a horse, black outlines and tinted red on the body.

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain

Some of the earliest art by the earliest humans.

The entrance to Geirangerfjord. Steep hills on either side, and big mountains in the background.

West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord

The world’s largest and deepest fjords, and breathtakingly beautiful.

A row of 2-3 story houses, the nearer ones painted white and the furthest one red brick with a small round turret.

Flemish Béguinages

Centuries-old architectural ensembles in Flanders that once housed religious communities of women.

Looking across a flat, brown plain to, i nthe distance, mountains with a glacier between them.

Vatnajökull National Park – Dynamic Nature of Fire and Ice

A constantly-changing area where the continental rift, volcanoes and glaciers dramatically interact.

Looking down a canal with large red-brick warehouses lining both sides.

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus

An ensemble of warehouses and office buildings resulting from Hamburg’s port trade in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A jumble of buildings on the edge of a steep gorge.

Historic Walled Town of Cuenca

A medieval fortress town in a dramatic location, perched on cliffs.

View down a hill with mountains in the background. On the hill below some of the ruins are visible: the amphitheater and some columns and low walls.

Archaeological Site of Delphi

An important religious site for ancient Greeks, who considered it the center of the world.

The house is wide and low and has a long balcony and a flat roof.

Tugendhat Villa in Brno

An outstanding example of Modern architecture of the 1920s, designed by Mies van der Rohe.

View of the front of the building: red brick, symmetrical, and wider than it is tall.

Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal (D.F. Wouda Steam Pumping Station)

The largest and most powerful steam-driven pumping station ever built.

On the left, the Leaning tower, with its rings of pillars on each level; next to that, the Cathedral.

Piazza del Duomo, Pisa

Four masterpieces of Pisan Romanesque architecture, including the world-famous Leaning Tower.

A pillared building with a shallow pool in front of it.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe

Towns in seven countries where an early tourism industry thrived around natural hot springs.

A view from above of a long stretch of beach lined with palm trees and a pedestrian and bike path.

Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera

An early example of a city that developed due to tourism.