Between Estonia and Lithuania lies the unspoilt parkland of Latvia.
15.09.2023 - 16:54 / edition.cnn.com
A collection of tombs from Korea’s ancient Gaya confederacy, a Viking age ring fortress in Denmark, an ancient Thai town and a 2,000-year-old earthworks in Ohio are among the contenders for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List this year.
Following much deliberation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is shortly expected to announce which sites have been given the honor of a place on its list of World Heritage Sites.
This year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is reviewing nominations from both 2022 and 2023, with participants from across the world attending the session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to examine almost 50 contenders.
This year’s meeting comes 45 years after UNESCO designated its first ever World Heritage Sites, when both the United States’ Yellowstone National Park and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands secured a spot on the coveted list.
According to UNESCO, sites must be of “outstanding universal value” to be included on the World Heritage List.
In order to qualify, a site has to meet at least one of a specific list of criteria, which is “regularly revised by the committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.”
The capital of capitals evolving under the shadow of ancient mysteries
The nomination process can extend over years, and if a landmark is omitted during one year, it can be examined again when the next UNESCO convention comes around.
Once a landmark is given UNESCO World Heritage status, the country or nation it’s based in can receive financial assistance, as well as expert advice from UNESCO to help preserve the site.
So far, the World Heritage Committee has inscribed approximately 1,157 sites in 167 different countries onto the World Heritage List.
Only those countries that sign the convention creating the World Heritage Committee and list are permitted to nominate sites.
While this consisted of around 40 countries when the nominations were introduced, it has since grown to 195 nations.
Gaya Tumuli, made up of seven tomb clusters from Korea’s ancient Gaya confederacy, is one of the many highlights from the 50 sites nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List this year.
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The cone-shaped burial mounds, which extend across the hills of Goryeong, would be the 16th site in South Korea to be added to the list if chosen.
Encompassing an area of 830 square miles, the incredible landscape of Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains National Park is also a strong contender.
Situated 240 miles southeast of Addis Ababa, the park encompasses an area of 830 square miles, including the Sanetti Plateau,
Between Estonia and Lithuania lies the unspoilt parkland of Latvia.
Public lands define many Montana vacations, offering a robust selection of free outdoor activities throughout the year.
As the summer travel season comes to a close, one airline is giving travelers a reason to start planning next summer's vacation. Delta Air Lines announced it will be operating its largest trans-Atlantic flight schedule ever, debuting just in time for summer 2024. The airline will be adding new destinations including Naples and bringing back service to Shannon, Ireland. According to Delta, next summer it will operate 260 weekly flights to 18 countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). This includes a new flight from JFK to Munich three times a week that will start on April 9, 2024, and a daily nonstop flight to Shannon, Ireland that will begin on May 23, 2024. The carrier will expand its existing service to Italy — it already flies to Milan, Venice, and Rome — with a new daily service to Naples. It will also resume service between Atlanta and Zurich, Switzerland, four times a week, which had originally been cut in 2019.
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Five historic Danish Viking age Ring Fortresses have just been added to the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. The fortresses were built between year 958 and 987 under the reign of the Danish Viking King Harald Bluetooth and are characterised by their remarkable symmetry.
Pacific Crest Trail, John Muir Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Colorado Trail, Oregon Coast Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail—the U.S. is full of challenging long-distance routes, alluring intrepid hikers from near and far. One of the most well-known thru-hikes is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT), the Footpath for the People.
Nine months after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a country club must sell its lease to the state historical society that owns the land containing Native American earthworks, golfers are still pushing carts over the mounds and whacking at them with 3-irons.
On Monday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) unveiled 27 new World Heritage Site designations. Among them are a diverse slate of culturally significant areas, including sacred temples in Cambodia, ancient tea forests in China, and historic European towns.
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Quito was founded in the 16th century on the ruins of an ancient Inca city, located 2,850 metres above sea level, and is the city with the most extensive, best preserved and least altered historic centre in Latin America. These attributes led to it being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 8 September 1978, as well as National Heritage of Ecuador.
A cyberattack has breached the computer system at MGM Resorts, forcing the company to shut down operations at a dozen of the most iconic casino hotels in Las Vegas—including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and the Cosmopolitan—as well as another half-dozen MGM properties around the United States. The attack has left hotel guests locked out of their rooms and unable to use their digital key cards to charge goods and services.
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