Qatar - Al Zubarah Archaeological Site

The walled coastal town of Al Zubarah in the Gulf flourished as a pearling and trading centre in the late 18th century and early 19th centuries, before it was destroyed in 1811 and abandoned in the early 1900s. Founded by merchants from Kuwait, Al Zubarah had trading links across the Indian Ocean, Arabia and Western Asia. A layer of sand blown from the desert has protected the remains of the site’s palaces, mosques, streets, courtyard houses, and fishermen’s huts; its harbour and double defensive walls, a canal, walls, and cemeteries. Excavation has only taken place over a small part of the site, which offers an outstanding testimony to an urban trading and pearl-diving tradition which sustained the region’s major coastal towns and led to the development of small independent states that flourished outside the control of the Ottoman, European, and Persian empires and eventually led to the emergence of modern day Gulf States.

Italy - Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)

The eight towns in south-eastern Sicily: Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli, were all rebuilt after 1693 on or beside towns existing at the time of the earthquake which took place in that year. They represent a considerable collective undertaking, successfully carried out at a high level of architectural and artistic achievement. Keeping within the late Baroque style of the day, they also depict distinctive innovations in town planning and urban building.

Dublin - UNESCO City of Literature

Dublin was nominated UNESCO City of Literature on 20th of July, 2010 becoming the fourth member in the domain of literature.

Dublin is acknowledged for having a rich literary heritage, being home of world-recognized writers and at the same time a city where literature still plays an important role in society and people’s life. It boasts four Nobel Laureates - playwright George Bernard Shaw, poets W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, and the multi-faceted Samuel Beckett. Many fine libraries and literary institutions can be found in the city, all supported by a strong publishing and bookselling industry.

The lively literary environment in the city is nurtured by a range of high quality education and promotion programmes with the support of public and private sectors. Besides, the multi-cultural aspect of Dublin’s cultural scene is a great opportunity to foster intercultural dialogue through literature.

Belgium - The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La Louvière and Le Roeulx (Hainaut)

The four hydraulic boat-lifts on this short stretch of the historic Canal du Centre are industrial monuments of the highest quality. Together with the canal itself and its associated structures, they constitute a remarkably well-preserved and complete example of a late-19th-century industrial landscape. Of the eight hydraulic boat-lifts built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the only ones in the world which still exist in their original working condition are these four lifts on the Canal du Centre.

Hungary - Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs (Sopianae)

In the 4th century, a remarkable series of decorated tombs were constructed in the cemetery of the Roman provincial town of Sopianae (modern Pécs). These are important both structurally and architecturally, since they were built as underground burial chambers with memorial chapels above the ground. The tombs are important also in artistic terms, since they are richly decorated with murals of outstanding quality depicting Christian themes.

Ecuador - Sangay National Park

With its outstanding natural beauty and two active volcanoes, the park illustrates the entire spectrum of ecosystems, ranging from tropical rainforests to glaciers, with striking contrasts between the snowcapped peaks and the forests of the plains. Its isolation has encouraged the survival of indigenous species such as the mountain tapir and the Andean condor.
The site is situated in the Cordillera Oriental region of the Andes in central Ecuador. The park is dominated by three volcanoes, Tungurahua (5,016 m) and El Altar (5,139 m) to the north-west and Sangay (5,230 m) in the central section of the park. Tungurahua and Sangay are both still active. Sangay regularly ejects hot rocks and tephra, and the last violent eruptions of Tungurahua occurred from 1916 to 1925. El Altar has an eroded and glaciated caldera and is considered extinct. The park has three landscapes: alluvial fans, eastern foothills and the High Andes.

UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity - France

Traditional processions of huge effigies of giants, animals or dragons encompass an original ensemble of festive popular manifestations and ritual representations. These effigies first appeared in urban religious processions at the end of the fourteenth century in many European towns and continue to serve as emblems of identity for certain Belgian (Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons) and French towns (Cassel, Douai, Pézenas and Tarascon), where they remain living traditions. The giants and dragons are large-scale models measuring up to nine metres in height and weighing as much as 350 kilos. They represent mythical heroes or animals, contemporary local figures, historical, biblical or legendary characters or trades. St. George fighting the dragon is staged in Mons; Bayard, the horse from the Charlemagne legend, parades in Dendermonde; and Reuze Papa and Reuze Maman, popular family characters, parade at Cassel. The performances, often mixing secular procession and religious ceremony, vary from town to town, but always follow a precise ritual in which the giants relate to the history, legend or life of the town.

Giants and dragons enliven popular festivals where they are the main actors at least once a year, as each effigy has its specific feast day. They act out historical scenes and dance in the streets to the accompaniment of fanfares and costumed people. The crowd follows the procession, and many participants help in the preparations at different stages of the festival. The construction of a giant and its ongoing maintenance require months of work and know-how in many techniques given the range of materials used. Although these expressions are not threatened with immediate disappearance, they do suffer from a number of pressures, such as major changes to town centres and increasing tourism, leading to the detriment of the popular, spontaneous nature of the festival.