history Archives | Page 9 of 9 | World Heritage Sites

The entrance to the cave is set into the side of a hill. The cave is quite large, perhaps 2-3 stories tall, judging by the people standing right inside the entrance., and has four very large square columns holding up the wide rectangular entrance.

Elephanta Caves

Caves devoted to the Hindu deity Shiva, containing art dating to the 5th and 6th centuries.

A large ceremonial hall at Changdeokgung Palace: 2 levels of curved roofs, typical of traditional Korean buildings. The walls and window frames below the lower roof and between it and the top roof are painted in bright colors. Stone steps lead up to the ground floor.

Changdeokgung Palace Complex

An exceptional example of Korean palace architecture and design in harmony with the surrounding landscape.

looking along a "road" between two rows of small red houses with white trim. The road is grassy. At the end of the road is a tall white church tower.

Church Town of Gammelstad, Luleå

A perfectly-preserved example of a phenomenon unique to rural Sweden: a town shaped by religious and social necessity.

Statue of Liberty

A potent symbol for Americans and the world, representing freedom and democracy.

A gnarled tree and its roots grow on top of and around a piece of a ruined temple. Walls of the temple are behind.

Angkor

Evocative archeological site with 1000+ temples testifying to an exceptional civilization.

A church, seen from the side and behind. The right-hand end (the back of the church) is round and brick, with Gothic arched windows in a line around the curve. To the left, the front of the church is painted white, and has a big square spire, also white except for its dark roof.

Historic Centre of Tallinn

An intact medieval fortified city.

Kronborg Castle

A symbol of Denmark’s former power as it guarded the narrow entrance to the Baltic Sea. Shakespeare’s inspiration for Elsinore.

Two large rocks, each with runes carved into it, each in a separate glass-sided case.

Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church

The place where King Harald Bluetooth in 965 AD declared Denmark a unified country and announced its Christianization.

In the foreground, the edge of the Great Pit. Beyond that, a row of buildings painted light yellow. The one in the middle is larger than the others, 3 stories with a mansard roof (green copper) and a cupola in the center of the roof. On either side are smaller, simpler yellow buildings with 2 stories. Beyond these buildings is the cluster of the town with a church steeple and in the background are some low hills with what may be a ski jump on the nearest one.

Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun

Remains of a copper mining area that influenced the mining industry worldwide.

The painting is curved at the top, with lots of blue and green. It depicts a very fanciful version of Stockholm, with three grand-looking white churches with turrets and a jumble of smaller white buildings around it., along with scattered very tall trees

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland

Fancifully decorated farmhouses built for special occasions by prosperous farmers.

Independence Hall

Considered the birthplace of the United States, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

Looking up at the white castle with curved roof lines at every story, not just the top.

Himeji-Jo

A magnificent bright white castle dating to the 17th century.

In the foreground, a pond. Beyond the pond, a mosque: very symmetrical, with a gold dome on its top and two tall minarets, one on each front corner of the building. Porticos extending out both sides of the building.

Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex

The first capital of the Golden Horde, a place of historical cultural exchange, and still a pilgrimage destination for Tatar Muslims.

A large building with typical curved roof and festooned with colorful banners.

Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara

A collection of ancient Buddhist and Shinto shrines in the old capital of the Japanese empire.

Gothic arches, flying buttresses, and 3 pointed spires on the roof.

Kutná Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec

An intact medieval town center and two fine late-Gothic churches.

A number of stupas scattered across a flat landscape.

Bagan

An archeological zone of thousands of Buddhist structures dating to the 11th-13th centuries.

3 houses in the photo, all with an arcade across the ground floor. The central one has ornate decorations on white on gray and an unusual stepped gable.

Historic Centre of Telč

A stunningly beautiful central plaza lined with charming pastel houses.

The top of Assumption cathedral: red brick with shiny silver-colored roofs on the turrets and the domes.

Assumption Cathedral and Monastery of the town-island of Sviyazhsk

A fortified monastery used by Ivan the Terrible in his efforts to defeat the Muslim Khanate of Kazan.

A river crosses the bottom of the picture. On the banks are two buildings: a white two-story house with a series of five gables., and a small white church with a simple spire. Behind them is a flat plain, rocky in places, covered in green in others. A rift in the land is visible crossing the plain.

Þingvellir National Park

Historically important to the nation of Iceland, geologically dramatic as well.

Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco

A centuries-old city center and an ancient agricultural area of canals and floating islands.

Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen Itza

Ancient Mayan ruins in the Yucatan.

View of Prague Castle rising above the old city, as seen from across the river.

Historic Center of Prague

Famous for its astronomical clock, Charles Bridges, picturesque view of Prague Castle and the sheer beauty of the preserved architecture found all over the city.

View of the canal in winter, with people skating on it.

Rideau Canal

A canal built to help defend Canada from American attacks, now an urban recreational zone in summer and winter.

Sceilg Mhichíl

An early monastic settlement over 1000 years old, situated on an isolated rock island in the Atlantic Ocean.

A simple white house with a thatched roof

Colonies of Benevolence

A utopian experiment in reducing urban poverty by building planned agrarian communities.

17th-century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

Canals lined with beautiful old patricians’ houses and former warehouses from when the city was a busy port, receiving products from all over the world.

Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout

Famous for its picturesque rows of windmills dating to the mid-1700s, and a great example of how the Dutch created the landscape of the Netherlands.