Ha Long Bay (1994) |
It's not long after spending some time researching or living abroad that the subject of UNESCO's World Heritage sites comes up.
Hoi An Ancient Town (1999) |
Time to fire up the travel bucket list generator and see what my future plans will include...
Citadel of the Ho Dynasty (2011) |
And what makes a site so culturally or physically significant that we've deemed it part of humanity's common heritage?
Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi (2010) |
Cultural criteria
- "represents a masterpiece of human creative genius"
- "exhibits 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"
- "to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared"
- "is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history"
- "is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture, or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change"
- "is directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance"
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (2003) |
- "contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance"
- "is an outstanding example 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"
- "is an outstanding example 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"
- "contains 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"
Complex of Hué Monuments (1993) |
This is undeniably a noble calling, and one that my empathetic and altruistic instincts naturally gravitate towards - when I was touring Angkor Wat, I had a two-day fantasy about becoming a preservation artist/archaeologist/master of rebuilding history, which is a nice fantasy, but seriously, how tedious and painstaking would that job be? No thanks.
The most famous are Hoi An (Ancient Town) and Ha Long Bay. Before being inducted into the upper echelon, sites must be placed on a tentative list. Currently, Vietnam has an additional 7 sites awaiting an influx of international tourists:
- Ba Be Lake (1997)
- The Area of Old Carved Stone in Sapa (1997)
- Huong Son Complex of Natural Beauty and Historical Monuments (1991)
- Cat Tien National Park (2006)
- Con Moong Cave (2006)
- Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex (2011)
- Cat Ba Archipelago (2011)
My Son Sanctuary (1999) |
After all, as a citizen of Earth, a minuscule slice of each site already belongs to me - time to go check out what we'll be responsible for some day! Expect updates as I tick them off the list...
That is so cool, and we (meaning at least you and me) would have never found out about this if you had not gone to Vietnam!
ReplyDeletecan we go to all of them?! i want to do it ALLLLLL
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