Celebrated each year on the 18th of April, World Heritage day is celebrated to raise the awareness about the history & diversity of cultural heritage around the world. It is also to remind us of the vulnerability of our world heritage sites and monuments. The Notre Dame Cathedral fire this week is a prime example. It also strives to recognize the efforts of all of the organizations and individuals that work hard to preserve these sites.
UNESCO currently preserves 1073 World Heritage sites in 167 countries. Currently the top UNESCO sites are Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Sigiriya, Cinque Terre & the Taj Majal. If you aren’t able to travel to a World Heritage site aboard, keep in mind there are also several places you can visit in the U.S.
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
The main buildings here are large, centuries-old, multistoried adobe structures—some of the finest examples of their kind.
San Antonio Missions, Texas
This was the first UNESCO site in Texas. Mission San Jose is our
favorite, but each of the others offers something distinctive worth seeing:
Mission Concepcion has some original frescoes, Mission San Juan Capistrano
offers a short woodland trail and Mission San Francisco de Espada has a triple
bell tower that is frequently photographed. They all are part of the
well-marked Mission Trail.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is part of the Guadalupe Mountain range southeast of New Mexico and southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA. 250 million years ago the area surrounding Carlsbad Caverns National Park was submerged in the sea – home to marine life and reefs. What can now be seen in the caverns, are buried evaporated reef and other sediments hoisting and dipping the rock formations. Beds of limestone and dolomite rock continue the process to form the caverns unique speleothems.
You can also visit several U.S. National Parks including Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Olympic National Park, Yosemite National Park and Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
The theme for 2019 is rural landscapes. ICOMOS defined rural landscapes as terrestrial and aquatic areas co-produced by human-nature interaction.
