Photos: the seven new sites that Unesco has inscribed on the World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee inscribed on Monday seven new sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List and postponed until tomorrow the examination of the nominations of Peru, Uruguay and Brazil to be added to the list of places protected by the institution, initially scheduled for today.

The body closed the session before all the proposals on the agenda had been considered because the debates on certain candidates continued.

This prevented the deliberation on the inscription on the World Heritage List of the the tropical garden Sitio Roberto Burle Marx (Brazil), the solar observatory of Chankillo (Peru), the church of Estación Atlántida (Uruguay) or the mining landscape of Rosia Montana (Romania).

During the session, inclusion in the list of up to seven candidates.

These are the island of Amami-Oshima (Japan), the coastal extension of Getbol (South Korea), the forest complex of Kaeng Krachan (Thailand), the tropical rain forests and wetlands of Colchis (Georgia), the hill d’Arslantepe (Turkey), the extension of the Amsterdam Defense Lines (Netherlands) and the Colonies of Benevolence (joint application between Holland and Belgium).

On Sunday, four new cultural sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in China, India, Iran as well as all of Paseo del Prado Yes Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain.

The 44th session of the World Heritage Committee takes place online since Fuzhou (China) and the site registration should continue until July 28.

Peru presents the archaeological complex of Chankillo, in which researchers point out that direct astronomical observations were made between 500 and 200 BC., following the annual movement of the sun to regulate religious festivals and other seasonal events.

Located near the coast, approximately 365 kilometers north of Lima, the observatory is divided into three sectors that cover about four square kilometers in which are 13 towers, a circular temple and a square, built with earth and mud.

From him, the authorities of the Andean country emphasize that It is “unique in the world” because, unlike other ancient observatories, Chankillo covered the entire annual solar cycle.

Much more modern is the proposal of Uruguay, the church of Atlántida station, built between 1958 and 1960 by engineer Eladio Dieste (1917-2000). Dieste is known around the world for having developed the system of “reinforced ceramic“And the double curvature vaults, and assured that the church of Atlántida was a work that “Life has changed.”

The Catholic temple is located in Estación Atlántida, in the department of Canelones (southern coast of Uruguay), and is particular for its use of exposed bricks.

On the Brazilian side, The Roberto Burle Marx site is, according to the country’s tourism ministry, “the legacy of the landscaper who created the concept of the modern tropical garden”.

Located in the western area of Rio de Janeiro, covers over 407,000 square meters of forest area and has a collection of over 3,500 tropical and subtropical plant species.

Besides gardens and nurseries, there are six lakes and seven buildings on the ground, which receives around 30,000 annual visitors and where the landscaper himself lived (1909-1994) from 1973 until his death.

These proposals, which must wait until tomorrow, are pending from 2020, when UNESCO was forced to cancel its annual meeting due to global health conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This meant that the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee became a extended version in which not only the applications for the current year are evaluated but also those which could not be judged last year.

Sessions are based in the southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou, but with the pandemic still active, they are celebrating most of the time virtually.

The nominations of Brazil, Peru and Uruguay are not the only ones from the Spanish-speaking world submitted to this enlarged session of the World Heritage Committee, which yesterday he decided to include in his list the “Landscape of Light” of Madrid, made up of the Paseo del Prado, the Jardines del Buen Retiro and the architectural, artistic and natural complex that surrounds it.

Likewise, it is expected that tomorrow afternoon – to the detriment of the consideration of other proposals longer than necessary, as today – a decision is taken on the inclusion of the Chinchorro culture (Chile) and the Monastery and Cathedral of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Tlaxcala (Mexico), candidates already belonging to 2021.

On the other hand, the candidacy presented by the Dominican Republic for the inscription of the historic and archaeological site of La Isabela on the Unesco World Heritage List has been withdrawn, Unesco sources told the agency EFE.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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