Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí

Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí World Heritage Site, Spain

From the World Heritage inscription for the Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí: The churches of the Vall de Boí are an especially pure and consistent example of Romanesque art in a virtually untouched rural setting. The group of churches is a remarkable example of an important constructional style in human history, like …

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San Cristobal de La Laguna

San Cristobal de La Laguna UNESCO World Heritage Site, Spain

From the World Heritage inscription for San Cristóbal de La Laguna: The historic ensemble of San Cristóbal de La Laguna has outstanding universal value is an urban design that represents the concept of the ‘town-territory’ as the first example of an unfortified town laid out and built according to a complete plan based on navigation, …

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Visiting Teide National Park

Teide National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Spain

Mount Teide is the highest point in all of Spain and it sits at the center of Teide National Park on Tenerife in Spain’s fascinating Canary Islands. The park itself is a giant caldera with geologically-recent lava flows from the Teide volcano, and a desert-like environment stretching far into the distance where ever you look. …

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Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California

Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mexico

From the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California World Heritage inscription: The site comprises 244 islands, islets and coastal areas located in the Gulf of California in north-eastern Mexico. The Sea of Cortez and its islands have been called a natural laboratory for the investigation of speciation. Moreover, almost all major oceanographic …

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Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ecuador

From the Galapagos Islands World Heritage inscription: Situated in the Pacific some 1,000 km from the South American continent, these islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique ‘living museum and showcase of evolution’. Located at the confluence of three ocean currents, the Galápagos are a ‘melting pot’ of marine species. Ongoing …

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City of Quito

City of Quito UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ecuador

From the City of Quito World Heritage inscription: Quito, the capital of Ecuador, was founded in the 16th century on the ruins of an Inca city and stands at an altitude of 2,850 m. Despite the 1917 earthquake, the city has the best-preserved, least altered historic center in Latin America. The monasteries of San Francisco …

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Rietveld Schröder House

Rietveld Schröder House UNESCO World Heritage Site Netherlands

From the World Heritage inscription for the Rietveld Schröder House: With its radical approach to design and the use of space, the Rietveld is an icon of the Modern Movement in architecture and an outstanding expression of human creative genius in its purity of ideas and concepts as developed by the De Stijl movement. It …

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Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht

From the World Heritage inscription for the Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht: The historic urban ensemble of the canal district of Amsterdam was a project for a new ‘port city’ built at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. It comprises a network of canals to the …

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Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust

Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust World Heritage inscription: Augustusburg and Falkenlust present the first important creations of the Rococo style in Germany. For more than a century, they served as models for most of the princely courts. Like the Residence of Würzburg, the castles and gardens are outstanding examples of the large princely …

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