Year: 2009

Garni Gorge

A geological oddity topped with a 2,000-year-old pagan temple.

Wagah Flag Ceremony

On the Pakistan-India border the militaries perform an elaborate theater of aggression each and every night.

Bylakuppe

The world's largest Tibetan refugee settlement.

Sati Handprints

Fifteen Jodhpur queens left their handprints before going to their fiery death.

Plaza de Toros

Discover Plaza de Toros in Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay: Abandoned bull fighting ring, slowly falling apart in Uruguay.

Vlindertuin

Discover Vlindertuin in Knokke-Heist, Belgium: A garden of flying flowers.

Dr. Guislain Museum

Discover Dr. Guislain Museum in Ghent, Belgium: A Museum of Psychiatry in a still-operating mental institution.

Caves of Remouchamps

Discover Caves of Remouchamps in Remouchamps, Belgium: Hiding the longest subterranean river known in the world.

The Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art

Discover The Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art in Brussels, Belgium: From Tintin to the Smurfs, Europe's greatest graphic icons are celebrated in a grand Art Noveau gallery.

Syntagma Square Metro Station

Discover Syntagma Square Metro Station in Athens, Greece: Where commuters walk through remnants of an ancient Greek necropolis.

Pythagoras Cave

Discover Pythagoras Cave in Samos Prefecture, Greece: Cave on extinct volcano, once home to famous mathematician Pythagoras.

The Holy Mountain

Discover Mount Athos in Agion Oros, Greece: An autonomous republic of Orthodox monks.

Labyrinthos Caves

Discover Labyrinthos Caves in Moires, Greece: Cretean quarry suggests real-life site for ancient Greek myth of the man-eating Minotaur in his labyrinth.

Sami

Discover Sami in Greece: A spectacular cave and a beguiling lake.

Meteora

Discover Meteora in Kalabaka, Greece: Monasteries on rock pillars, once accessible only by frayed ropes.

Menu

i
To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. 261 ii
To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design. 480 iii
To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared. 514 iv
To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history. 642 ix
To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals. 137 v
To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change. 172 vi
To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria). 256 vii
To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. 151 viii
To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features. 98 x
To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. 168

PP ToS