European UNESCO-Listed Sites 2008

Posted by Henk Bekker Jul 20, 2008

UNESCO currently has 878 properties inscribed on its popular World Heritage list. Too few then, fortunately, for an honest Thousand-Sites-to-See-Before-You-Die book but enough to keep travelers keen to visit all UNESCO-listed sites rather busy for a couple of years.

Reading random travel-related discussion boards will usually reveal people keen on visiting all UNESCO-listed sites. My first reaction is usually to ask why. Why go and see a site simply because it is on the list, or alternatively not visit a site because it is not listed? If UNESCO goes ahead and scrap for instance Dresden from the list because it is building a bridge over the Elbe, will Dresden be less worthy a trip than twelve months ago? I don’t think so.

I have, for example, seen almost all UNESCO-listed sights in Germany but the few I missed are simply because I’m not interested in them even though I may agree that their preservation has outstanding universal value. Life is too short and traveling too expensive to see something simply because it is on a list rather than being of particular interest to me or traveling companions.

For the record (and travel planning for some) the new Western European sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in July 2008 are:

New UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites in Western Europe:

• Fortifications of Vauban (France)
• Berlin Modernism Housing Estates (Germany)
• Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape (Switzerland and Italy)

New UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites in Western Europe:

• Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland)
• Lagoons of New Caledonia (Non-Continental Overseas France)

Western European countries with UNESCO World Heritage listed sites include Austria (8 listed sites), Belgium (9), France (33), Germany (32), Luxembourg (1), the Netherlands (7), and Switzerland (9).