TagUNESCO World Heritage Site

The medieval town of Carcassonne, located in the Occitania region of France, was originally a Gaulish settlement that the Romans transformed into a fortified town in the third century. It is most famous for its nearly two miles of walls interspersed with 52 towers that surround the area, making it the largest walled city in

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also known as the Genbaku Dome, was almost completely destroyed by the heat waves and blast wind of the atomic bomb dropped on Aug. 6, 1945. It was one of the only structures left standing near the hypocenter of the explosion.  An exact figure of casualties of the bomb is unknowable,

Located in Northern New Mexico, Taos Pueblo is thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. Parts of the adobe settlement have been dated back more than a thousand years. The Taos people still use the adobe structures for religious ceremonies and rites, with about 150 people living in the Pueblo

Gunung Mulu lies just below the equator on the Malaysian island of Borneo.  Covered by thousands of miles of tropical rainforest, the park teems with life and unique natural phenomena. Several millenia of heavy rain have carved formations in the park’s limestone. Jagged spires called the Pinnacles of Gunung Mulu jut out from Borneo’s jungles.

The ancient city of Petra was the capital of the Nabatean kingdom, a desert oasis and nomadic epicenter along major trade routes between Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Its elaborate structures were carved by hand directly into sandstone cliffs. Rock-cut channels, webbed throughout the surrounding mountainous desert, connected natural springs to the city’s canals

For more than three millennia, people have inhabited the magnificent natural landscape of Salzkammergut, taking advantage of its salt deposits. Iron Age trade routes across Europe testify to the flourishing society that became known as Hallstatt Culture. After a fire destroyed the town in 1750, it was rebuilt in Baroque style. The landscape has escaped

The Amphitheatre of El Jem, located in central Tunisia rivals the Colosseum in Rome. Composed of stone bricks and supported on a flat plain by a complex system of arches, the amphitheatre is an impressive display of Roman architecture. It was constructed around 238 BCE in the small city of Thysdrus, present day El Jem.

The Iguazu Falls stand between the border of Argentina and Brazil, including some 275 waterfalls and cataracts that cascade more than 250 feet. Aptly named, iguazu means “great water” in the native Mbyá-Guaraní language. Two sister parks in Argentina and Brazil cover a combined area of nearly 1,000 square miles. The magnificent landscape is home

Known as Pamukkale, or “cotton palace,” the ancient “holy city” of Hierapolis is an ethereal landscape of mineral forests, petrified waterfalls and terraced basins. Its cliffside hot springs 650 feet high have served as spas since 200 BCE, when the town of Hierapolis was founded in what is now southwest Turkey. Throughout the ages, civilizations

A symbol of the American ideals of freedom, inspiration and hope, the Statue of Liberty has welcomed millions of immigrants to the United States since 1886. She stands proudly within view of Ellis Island, the U.S.’s most famous immigration center, at the entrance of New York Harbor. A gift from France, designed by sculptor Frederic

Constructed in the early 15th century, the Changdeokgung Palace (literally the Palace of Prospering Virtue) is one of the Five Grand Palaces built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty. The complex, which occupies nearly 143 acres in northern Seoul, Korea, distinguishes itself from conventional palace architecture by its clever adaptation to the uneven topography.

The city of Mostar in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina is named after its most famous landmark, the Stari Most (Old Bridge). Originally a frontier town under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the city was established in the 15th century in the valley of the Neretva River. Pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and European influences all

The city of Cuzco dates back to the ancient Incan empire, which ruled over the Central Peruvian Andes in South America. The city was built and remodeled over a period of more than 3,000 years, culminating in a complex urban compound full of religious and administrative structures, surrounded by clearly delineated agricultural, artisanal and industrial

Known as ‘the Pearl of the Adriatic,’ Dubrovnik, rich in culture and history, dates back to the first century when Roman refugees founded it, linking Roman and Slavic civilizations. Though the city has passed through Roman, Byzantine and Venetian hands over the centuries, it largely maintained its independence as a city-state, making major contributions to

Quebec is the only North American city to preserve its colonial ramparts. The defensive walls, along with bastions and gates, still surround Upper Town. Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer, founded the city in the 17th century, and it served as the capital of New France until 1760 when it briefly came under British colonial

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a world-class center for botanical and horticultural research, conservation and education. A group of “public-spirited citizens” established the botanic gardens in 1859. After being handed over to the colonial government in the late 1870s when Singapore was part of British Malaya, the park was used to support the colony’s rubber

Bahla has been an oasis in the Gulf of Oman desert since the medieval period. Standing as both a fort and settlement, it served as the capital for the Banu Nebhan tribe from the 12th to the 15th centuries. The walls and towers, along with the dwellings of the settlement, are built from unbaked brick

On the most remote inhabited island on the planet, architectural and artistic traditions developed independent of external influence for the good part of a millennium. Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, was first inhabited by a group of Eastern Polynesian settlers around a thousand years ago. They constructed the island’s famous moai statues, which

Old Havana, founded in 1519 as a springboard for the Spanish conquest of the Americas, boasts the title of the most notable historic city center in the Caribbean. The Havana Bay was an obligatory stop on the maritime route to the Americas during the colonial era, making military fortifications a necessity to protect the city.

Thebes, now the city of Luxor, was the city of the god Amon and capital of Egypt during the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms. With the temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor, and the necropolises, large elaborate cemetaries, of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, Thebes is