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WHC
World Heritage
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Alternative
List
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UNESCO World Heritage Sites
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. In 1972, UNESCO member states signed the World Heritage Convention, which established the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (based in Paris) and the World Heritage List. This is designed to identify cultural and natural sites of global importance, with a view to ensuring their protection. Member states nominate sites for consideration by a Committee against criteria set down in the Convention.
There are two categories of site on the List - Cultural properties and Natural properties. In each case, sites must be of "outstanding universal value" as defined according to a set of criteria.
There are currently 754 sites inscribed in the List: 582 cultural sites, 149 natural sites and 23 mixed sites in 128 countries. The World Heritage Committee normally meets annually. The last meeting (the 27th session) was held in Paris, in June 2003, when they added 24 new sites to the list.
 We first became aware of the UNESCO programme when we visited the palace and gardens of Sans Souci at Potsdam in July 1997. Subsequent reading revealed that we had actually visited five World Heritage Sites on that holiday , all of which had been high-points (Roskilde Cathedral, Sans Souci, Prague, Cologne Cathedral and Aachen Cathedral, plus the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, which was inscribed later, in 2002). Since then we have looked-out for World Heritage Sites on all of our visits, and we have not been disappointed. Some are pretty obvious candidates (such as the Grand Place in Brussels, or Tallinn Old Town), others less so. The Viking settlement of Birka, near Stockholm, is a particularly good example of a highly rewarding and enjoyable visit that we might not otherwise have made.
 We have compiled our own list of World Heritage Sites that we have visited, with links to the relevant parts of our website. We have also compiled an Alternative List of other noteworthy places we have visited that we think might have a case for inclusion in the list.
More information about the World Heritage Convention, the Committee, and the process of considering sites can be found at the WHC website. This includes a complete and up-to-date list of World Heritage Sites, with descriptions, pictures, and links to relevant websites.
Sites Visited | "Alternative" List | Categories | Criteria | WHC website |
