The New World Heritage Sites of 2021

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee announced 34 new World Heritage Sites in 2021. The List now includes 1154 sites of a cultural, natural or mixed character. 

This article provides direct links to the inscriptions. Seek more information about the work of the Committee on the WHC website. Read Sandalsand’s main story about World Heritage Sites and the task of visiting the ever-growing number of new sites. Sandalsand has visited four of the 34 new sites. 

Also, read the articles about the new entries in 2019 and 2018. Because of the pandemic there were no new additions in 2020. In addition the planned 2022 session of the Committee was postponed and will presumably be held in 2023.

The new or amended sites in 2021

Here are the new World Heritage Sites of 2021. All links lead to UNESCO’s article about the site.

Cultural sites

The new World Heritage Sites of 2021 include 29 cultural sites all over the world.

1. As-Salt – The Place of Tolerance and Urban Hospitality, Jordan
2. Rosia Montana Mining Landscape, Romania
3. Colonies of Benevolence, Belgium and Netherlands
4. Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, China
5. Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana, India
6. Trans-Iranian Railway, Iran
7. Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Western Segment), Austria, Germany, Slovakia
8. The work of engineer Eladio Dieste: Church of Atlántida, Uruguay
9. The Great Spa Towns of Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom
10. Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Germany

What follows are images from the four new sites Sandalsand has had the fortune of paying a visit. After this, the list continues.

11. Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences, Spain
12. Hima Cultural Area, Saudi Arabia
13. Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, Brazil
14. Arslantepe Mound, Turkey
15. Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles, Italy
16. Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex, Peru
17. Cordouan Lighthouse, France
18. Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Lower German Limes, Germany, Netherlands
19. Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, Japan
20. The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, United Kingdom
21. Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture in the Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile
22. Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera, France
23. ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, Germany
24. The works of Joze Plecnik in Ljubljana – Human Centred Urban Design, Slovenia
25. Dholavira: a Harappan City, India
26. Cultural Landscape of Hawraman/Uramanat, Iran
27. Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’Ivoire, Côte d’Ivoire
28. The Porticoes of Bologna, Italy
29. Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea, Russia

Natural sites

The new World Heritage Sites of 2021 include five natural sites in Asia and Africa.

1. Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex, Thailand
2. Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, Northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island, Japan
3. Getbol, Korean Tidal Flats, Republic of Korea
4. Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands, Georgia
5. Ivindo National Park, Gabon