New Wonders Of The World
Lena Pillars Nature Park, Russia
The giant stone colonnades of Lena Pillars Nature Park line the
banks of the Lena River in the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia.
Isolated from each other, the pillars soar to heights of 100 meters or
more than 328 feet, and are also rich in Cambrian fossils. They formed
by freeze-thaw action over the millennia due to the area’s extreme
changes in temperatures.
Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem
One of the world’s holiest sites attracts millions of annual
pilgrims, many following a route from Jerusalem (six miles away)
developed centuries ago. The first known church here was constructed in
339, while the current structure was built over the site in the sixth
century and still includes the earlier, original floor mosaics.
Different Christian sects maintain the complex, which includes
Franciscan, Latin, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian convents, monasteries,
and church buildings, along with bell towers, colonnades, and gardens.
Yet infighting among the caretakers over their respective sections has
left much of it in a fragile condition.
Bali Province’s Subak System, Indonesia
Bali won points with UNESCO this year not
for its beaches but for its inland farming regions, specifically five
rice terraces and connected water temples that make up a water
management and irrigation system of subaks (canals). This setup dates
back to the ninth century and includes the Royal Water Temple of Pura
Taman. The subak system is itself a philosophical concept harmonizing
the spiritual, natural, and built world, and represents the exchange of
ideas between Bali and India. Locals say it’s a major reason why
Balinese rice growers are among the most successful in Indonesia.
Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, Palau
This gorgeous lagoon counts 445 uninhabited limestone,
volcanic-origin islands, some in the shape of mushrooms, over 247,000
acres. It represents the world’s greatest collection of marine lakes
(seawater lakes separated from the ocean)—and also boasts a reef system
with more than 385 species of coral. Human traces stretch back more than
3,000 years, including 17th- and 18th-century stoneworking villages
abandoned due to climate change and population pressure on the fragile
ecosystem.
Margravial Opera House, Bayreuth, Germany
A fantastic model of German Baroque, the 500-seat Margravial Opera
House was commissioned by Margravine Wilhelmine in the mid-1700s.
Designed by architect Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, complete with paintings
and intricate carvings, it paved the way for the grand public operas
that proliferated across Europe a century later. In 2013, the theater
will host events for the 200th anniversary of the birth of German
composer Richard Wagner.
Landscape of Grand Pré, Canada
The archaeological remains in this bucolic setting testify to hardy
European farmers who used dykes and the aboiteau wooden sluice system, a
labor-intensive method that prevented saltwater tides from flooding the
Pré marshland of Nova Scotia—one of the world’s most extreme tidal
regions. The preserved area is more than 3,200 acres and was first
developed by 17th-century Acadians of what was New France.
Rio de Janeiro’s Carioca Landscapes Between the Mountain and the Sea, Brazil
The most famous of the wonders chosen by UNESCO
in 2012, the Carioca Landscapes is crowned by the 1930s Art Deco statue
of Christ atop Corcovado. It gazes down at the native Atlantic forest
growing in Tijuca National Park—as well as Rio’s see-and-be-seen
beaches.
Site of Xanadu, China
Xanadu was a real place north of China’s Great Wall, first
described to westerners by Italian explorer Marco Polo. As the capital
of Kublai Khan’s empire, Xanadu was designed to combine the Mongolian
nomadic, warrior culture with the sophistication of the native Han
Chinese and was planned using feng shui principles in 1256. The city’s
role as a religious center helped spread Tibetan Buddhism through
northeast Asia. Today, remains of temples, palaces, and tombs spread
over nearly 62,000 acres.
Lakes of Ounianga, Chad
Saline and freshwater lakes are scattered within this portion of
the Sahara desert to dramatic effect. There are four lakes in Ounianga
Kebir, the largest being Yoan at roughly 885 acres and a depth of more
than 88 feet. High in salt content, it supports primarily algae.
Ounianga Serir is the other section, with 14 fauna-filled freshwater
lakes amid sand dunes.
Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy, Bahrain
The Persian Gulf nations now bring to mind skyscrapers and
air-conditioned shopping malls, but long before oil was discovered,
pearl diving was the region’s main source of wealth. Seventeen buildings
and the Qal’at Bu Mahir fortress complex in Muharraq City make up this
site, along with three oyster beds and a section of the seashore.
Visitors will find traditional shops, a mosque, and the former
residences of merchants made rich by the pearl trade, a mainstay from
the second century until the 1930s, when the Japanese invented cultured
pearls.
Garrison Border Town of Elvas and Its Fortifications, Portugal
At this Portuguese town a few miles from the present Spanish
border, the fortifications began in the 17th century, when Portugal
gained independence from Spain. Those designed by the Dutch Jesuit
priest Cosmander are considered the best surviving examples of Dutch
fortifications in the world. Among the churches, seek out the impressive
16th-century Church of Nossa Senhora da Assunção, with its blue and
yellow tiled interior. Elvas also notably still gets its water from the
4.5-mile Amoreira aqueduct.
Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland, Sweden
Seven 19th-century wooden houses stand out as exquisite examples of
a tradition of painted rooms that goes back to the Middle Ages in
Sweden. Well-to-do farmers used these rooms for entertaining, and they
display a mix of high and folk art created by artists working in Baroque
and other styles—many of whose names have been lost to history.
Chengjiang Fossil Site, China
China’s Yunnan province is rich with fossils from the early
Cambrian period, dating back nearly 530 million years to a period when
most of earth’s major animal groups developed. Well-preserved fossils
show both soft and hard tissues from more than 196 identified species in
what was once a marine ecosystem here. Many of the fossils are still a
mystery.
Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: A Shared Heritage, Morocco
In Rabat, the Moroccan capital with roughly 650,000 inhabitants and
a scenic perch on the Atlantic, the planned French colonial city dating
from the early 20th century mixes with portions dating back to the 12th
century. You’ll spy a variety of stylistic landmarks, such as the
Hassan Mosque (circa 1184), royal residences, Art Deco landmarks, and
the Jardins d’Essais gardens.
Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley, Malaysia
Humans have been hanging around the forested Lenggong Valley for
nearly 2 million years, the longest recorded outside of Africa. The
valley is known for its palm plantations, as well as illegal forest
logging, and comprises four archaeological sites in two sections. You’ll
find ruins from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Metal ages in both
open-air and cave shelter settings.
Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan, Iran
Isfahan is awash with religious monuments, and among the most
remarkable is the Masjed-e Jāmé, or Friday mosque. The sprawling complex
was continually developed from the year 841 until the present era. It
is the first Islamic structure to mimic the four-courtyard layout of
Sassanid palaces. That design, along with the ribbed, double-shelled
dome and intricate tile work, soon became a standard for mosques across
Central Asia.
Bassari Country’s Bassari, Fula, and Bedik Cultural Landscapes, Senegal
The Fula, Bassari, and Bedik peoples populated this part of
southeast Senegal from the 11th to 19th centuries and developed
agricultural and architectural forms that were often in harmony with
nature. The Bedik villages feature peaked thatched-roof huts, while the
Bassari environment used terraced rice paddies. The sites showcase a
still thriving local culture and built environment.
Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey
Discovered only in the 1950s, this 91-acre site is dense with
archaeological treasures dating back to 7,400 B.C. Eighteen Neolithic
civilization layers have been uncovered on the older, taller eastern
hill. Within are wall paintings, sculptures, household objects, and
other items, which show the transition from villages into a highly
organized urban lifestyle over a 2,000-year period. Within the western
mound are ruins dating from the Chalcolithic era (6,200–5,200 B.C.),
among them, houses that were joined in a street-less urban pattern, each
entered via the rooftop.
Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel, Israel
Nearly a hundred years of archaeological research has been done
within the cave sites of Tabun, Jamal, el-Wad, and Skhul on Israel’s
Mount Carmel range—and there’s much more to learn. The archaeological
elements date back more than half a million years, from ancient burial
and stone architectural sites to others that illustrate our evolution to
early agriculture and animal husbandry.
Heritage of Mercury, Almadén, Spain and Idrija, Slovenia
Mercury, known in olden days as quicksilver, was key to speeding
along the extraction of gold from the Americas by the Spanish Empire.
That explains the cross-Continental importance of these two mining
sites, one in Almadén, Spain, and the other in Idrija, Slovenia, once a
part of the Spanish Empire under the Hapsburgs. Only recently shuttered,
they are the largest mines of their type in the world. In Slovenia,
there are interesting sets of buildings beyond those used for mining,
such as Gerwerkenegg Castle and a beautifully carved underground chapel
where miners would pray for safety.
Historic Town of Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast
Grand-Bassam was planned as capital of the Ivory Coast, when it was
known as the Gulf of Guinea, under French control in the 1890s. The
city grew up around the already existing fishing village of N’zima,
which is also included within the UNESCO
designation. Cosmopolitan in its heyday, Grand-Bassam was virtually
abandoned when yellow fever broke out soon after its
founding—inadvertently aiding the city’s preservation.
Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, Belgium
These designated sites are part of an industrial coal-mining belt
stretching through Belgium with four intact collieries, or mining sites
and their connected buildings. These are the best preserved of hundreds
of such sites in use into the early 20th century. The Grand-Hornu
colliery (pictured) is particularly striking, with a utopian-like design
by Bruno Renard, while the Bois-du-Luc site is one of the oldest,
dating back to the late 1600s.
Gonbad-e Qābus, Iran
This soaring tomb stands nearly 17 stories high and was built for
the Ziyarid ruler and literary figure Qābus Ibn Voshmgir in the year
1006. It’s the only major remaining structure from the ancient city of
Jorjan, a cultural and scientific center destroyed by 14th- and
15th-century Mongol invasions. Among the largest brick towers in the
world, it shows traits of both native Persian and Islamic architecture,
along with the influences of Central Asian nomadic structures. The
structure is built of fired, unglazed bricks, rising in the form of a
gently tapering, ribbed, 10-sided cylinder crowned by a conical brick
roof.
Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, France
It’s more about brawn than beauty in this part of France, where
coal was mined from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries. Spread over
nearly 300,000 acres, the site has 109 individual components, many of
which demonstrate the intense social controls within these mining
communities, meant as model worker villages and outfitted with schools,
religious buildings, railways, offices, and other mining company
structures. A visit here pays tribute to an important period in European
industrialization and informs how and why workers began to mobilize in
unions.
Sangha Trinational, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo
These untouched wilds of tropical Africa stretch through adjacent
national parks in three different countries—Cameroon, the Central
African Republic, and the Congo—in the northwestern Congo River Basin.
The total covers more than 1.85 million acres. Waters here teem with
giant tigerfish and Nile crocodiles, while on land, elephants, gorillas,
and chimpanzees roam the forests along with many endangered African
species.
Western Ghats, India
“Old as the mountains” perfectly describes India’s Western Ghats, a
mountain chain that makes the more famous Himalayas look young. The
tropical ecosystem here is influenced by the Indian monsoon season;
warmth and constant moisture support more than 325 forms of birds (the
great pied hornbill, for instance), mammals, reptiles, fish, and various
flora, many threatened elsewhere.
