UNESCO unveils latest World Heritage Sites

The terraced West Bank village of Battir.Battir, located just south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, is known for its ancient farming terraces and an irrigation system from Roman times.[Photo/IC]

With the Okavango Delta in Botswana being listed on the World Heritage list on Sunday, UNESCO World Heritage sites have reached 1,000, though the list is expected to expand as the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee convened in the Qatari capital, Doha, and will run through June 25.

On Sunday, the following sites were added to the list: the Okavango Delta (Botswana); the Grand Canal, the longest artificial waterway in the world(China); Silk Road, an ancient trade route ancient route connecting the East and the West(China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan); Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc (France); Rani-ki-Vav (India); Shahr-i Sokhta (Iran); Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands (Israel).

Other sites announced on Sunday include the vineyard landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato (Italy); Namhansanseong emergency capital city (South Korea); Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the birth of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey); Pergamon and its cultural landscape (Turkey).

Sites named on Saturday include Japan's Tomioka Silk Mill; the Van Nellefabriek (Van Nelle Factory) in the Netherlands; Qhapac Ñan, Andean Road System (which runs through Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru); and Germany's Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey. The committee also named Saudi Arabia's Historic Jeddah, the Gate to Makkah; and the Irbil Citadel, a fortified settlement in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. The ancient West Bank village of Battir was named on Friday.