HERITAGE TOURISM

WEEK 14 LECTURE
WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SOUTH
AND EAST EUROPE
◦ Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, Andorra
◦ The cultural landscape of Madriu-Perafita-
Claror Valley offers a microcosmic perspective
of the way people have harvested the
resources of the high Pyrenees over millennia.
Its dramatic glacial landscapes of craggy cliffs
and glaciers, with high open pastures and
steep wooded valleys, covers an area of 4,247
ha, 9% of the total area of the principality. It
reflects past changes in climate, economic
fortune and social systems, as well as the
persistence of pastoralism and a strong
mountain culture, notably the survival of a
communal land-ownership system dating back
to the 13th century. The site features houses,
notably summer settlements, terraced fields,
stone tracks and evidence of iron smelting.
◦ Architectural, Residential and Cultural
Complex of the Radziwill Family at
Nesvizh, Belarus
◦ The Architectural, Residential and
Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family
at Nesvizh is located in central Belarus.
The Radziwill dynasty, who built and kept
the ensemble from the 16th century until
1939, gave birth to some of the most
important personalities in European
history and culture. Due to their efforts,
the town of Nesvizh came to exercise
great influence in the sciences, arts,
crafts and architecture. The complex
consists of the residential castle and the
mausoleum Church of Corpus Christi
with their setting. The castle has ten
interconnected buildings, which
developed as an architectural whole
around a six-sided courtyard. The
palaces and church became important
prototypes marking the development of
architecture throughout Central Europe
and Russia.
◦ Ancient City of Nessebar, Bulgaria
◦ Situated on a rocky peninsula on
the Black Sea, the more than
3,000-year-old site of Nessebar
was originally a Thracian
settlement (Menebria). At the
beginning of the 6th century BC,
the city became a Greek colony.
The city’s remains, which date
mostly from the Hellenistic period,
include the acropolis, a temple of
Apollo, an agora and a wall from
the Thracian fortifications. Among
other monuments, the Stara
Mitropolia Basilica and the fortress
date from the Middle Ages, when
this was one of the most
important Byzantine towns on the
west coast of the Black Sea.
Wooden houses built in the 19th
century are typical of the Black
Sea architecture of the period.
◦ Acropolis, Athens, Greece
◦ The Acropolis of Athens and its
monuments are universal symbols of the
classical spirit and civilization and form
the greatest architectural and artistic
complex bequeathed by Greek
Antiquity to the world. In the second half
of the fifth century bc, Athens, following
the victory against the Persians and the
establishment of democracy, took a
leading position amongst the other city-
states of the ancient world. In the age
that followed, as thought and art
flourished, an exceptional group of
artists put into effect the ambitious plans
of Athenian statesman Pericles and,
under the inspired guidance of the
sculptor Pheidias, transformed the rocky
hill into a unique monument of thought
and the arts. The most important
monuments were built during that time:
the Parthenon, built by Ictinus, the
Erechtheon, the Propylaea, the
monumental entrance to the Acropolis,
designed by Mnesicles and the small
temple Athena Nike.
◦ Archaeological Site of Olympia,
Greece
◦ The site of Olympia, in a valley in
the Peloponnesus, has been
inhabited since prehistoric times.
In the 10th century B.C., Olympia
became a centre for the worship
of Zeus. The Altis – the sanctuary
to the gods – has one of the
highest concentrations of
masterpieces from the ancient
Greek world. In addition to
temples, there are the remains of
all the sports structures erected for
the Olympic Games, which were
held in Olympia every four years
beginning in 776 B.C.
◦ Medieval City of Rhodes,
Greece
◦ The Order of St John of
Jerusalem occupied Rhodes
from 1309 to 1523 and set about
transforming the city into a
stronghold. It subsequently
came under Turkish and Italian
rule. With the Palace of the
Grand Masters, the Great
Hospital and the Street of the
Knights, the Upper Town is one of
the most beautiful urban
ensembles of the Gothic period.
In the Lower Town, Gothic
architecture coexists with
mosques, public baths and
other buildings dating from the
Ottoman period.
◦ Temple of Apollo
Epicurius at Bassae,
Greece
◦ This famous temple to the
god of healing and the
sun was built towards the
middle of the 5th century
B.C. in the lonely heights
of the Arcadian
mountains. The temple,
which has the oldest
Corinthian capital yet
found, combines the
Archaic style and the
serenity of the Doric style
with some daring
architectural features.
◦ Budapest, including the
Banks of the Danube, the
Buda Castle Quarter and
Andrássy Avenue, Hungary
◦ This site has the remains of
monuments such as the
Roman city of Aquincum
and the Gothic castle of
Buda, which have had a
considerable influence on
the architecture of various
periods. It is one of the
world's outstanding urban
landscapes and illustrates
the great periods in the
history of the Hungarian
capital.
◦ Archaeological Areas of Pompei,
Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata,
Italy
◦ When Vesuvius erupted on 24 August
AD 79, it engulfed the two flourishing
Roman towns of Pompei and
Herculaneum, as well as the many
wealthy villas in the area. These have
been progressively excavated and
made accessible to the public since
the mid-18th century. The vast
expanse of the commercial town of
Pompei contrasts with the smaller but
better-preserved remains of the
holiday resort of Herculaneum, while
the superb wall paintings of the Villa
Oplontis at Torre Annunziata give a
vivid impression of the opulent
lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthier
citizens of the Early Roman Empire.
◦ Cathedral, Torre Civica and
Piazza Grande, Modena,
Italy
◦ The magnificent 12th-
century cathedral at
Modena, the work of two
great artists (Lanfranco and
Wiligelmus), is a supreme
example of early
Romanesque art. With its
piazza and soaring tower, it
testifies to the faith of its
builders and the power of
the Canossa dynasty who
commissioned it.
◦ Church and Dominican
Convent of Santa Maria
delle Grazie with “The Last
Supper” by Leonardo da
Vinci, Italy
◦ The refectory of the
Convent of Santa Maria
delle Grazie forms an
integral part of this
architectural complex,
begun in Milan in 1463 and
reworked at the end of the
15th century by Bramante.
On the north wall is The
Last Supper, the unrivalled
masterpiece painted
between 1495 and 1497 by
Leonardo da Vinci, whose
work was to herald a new
era in the history of art.
◦ Historic Centre of Florence, Italy
◦ Built on the site of an Etruscan
settlement, Florence, the
symbol of the Renaissance, rose
to economic and cultural pre-
eminence under the Medici in
the 15th and 16th centuries. Its
600 years of extraordinary
artistic activity can be seen
above all in the 13th-century
cathedral (Santa Maria del
Fiore), the Church of Santa
Croce, the Uffizi and the Pitti
Palace, the work of great
masters such as Giotto,
Brunelleschi, Botticelli and
Michelangelo.
◦ Historic Centre of Naples,
Italy
◦ From the Neapolis
founded by Greek
settlers in 470 B.C. to the
city of today, Naples has
retained the imprint of
the successive cultures
that emerged in Europe
and the Mediterranean
basin. This makes it a
unique site, with a wealth
of outstanding
monuments such as the
Church of Santa Chiara
and the Castel Nuovo.
◦ Historic Centre of Rome, the
Properties of the Holy See in that City
Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San
Paolo Fuori le Mura, Italy
◦ Founded, according to legend, by
Romulus and Remus in 753 BC, Rome
was first the centre of the Roman
Republic, then of the Roman Empire,
and it became the capital of the
Christian world in the 4th century. The
World Heritage site, extended in 1990
to the walls of Urban VIII, includes
some of the major monuments of
antiquity such as the Forums, the
Mausoleum of Augustus, the
Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon,
Trajan’s Column and the Column of
Marcus Aurelius, as well as the
religious and public buildings of papal
Rome.
◦ Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, Italy
◦ Twelve villas and two gardens spread
across the Tuscan landscape make up this
site which bears testimony to the influence
the Medici family exerted over modern
European culture through its patronage of
the arts. Built between the 15th and 17th
centuries, they represent an innovative
system of construction in harmony with
nature and dedicated to leisure, the arts
and knowledge. The villas embody an
innovative form and function, a new type
of princely residence that differed from
both the farms owned by rich Florentines of
the period and from the military might of
baronial castles. The Medici villas form the
first example of the connection between
architecture, gardens, and the
environment and became an enduring
reference for princely residences
throughout Italy and Europe. Their gardens
and integration into the natural
environment helped develop the
appreciation of landscape characteristic
Humanism and the Renaissance.
◦ Piazza del Duomo, Pisa,
Italy
◦ Standing in a large
green expanse, Piazza
del Duomo houses a
group of monuments
known the world over.
These four masterpieces
of medieval architecture
– the cathedral, the
baptistry, the campanile
(the 'Leaning Tower')
and the cemetery – had
a great influence on
monumental art in Italy
from the 11th to the 14th
century.
◦ Venice and its Lagoon,
Italy
◦ Founded in the 5th
century and spread over
118 small islands, Venice
became a major
maritime power in the
10th century. The whole
city is an extraordinary
architectural masterpiece
in which even the smallest
building contains works by
some of the world's
greatest artists such as
Giorgione, Titian,
Tintoretto, Veronese and
others.
◦ Laurisilva of Madeira
◦ The Laurisilva of
Madeira is an
outstanding relict of a
previously widespread
laurel forest type. It is
the largest surviving
area of laurel forest and
is believed to be 90%
primary forest. It
contains a unique suite
of plants and animals,
including many
endemic species such
as the Madeiran long-
toed pigeon.
◦ Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands),
Italy
◦ The Aeolian Islands provide
an outstanding record of
volcanic island-building
and destruction, and
ongoing volcanic
phenomena. Studied since
at least the 18th century,
the islands have provided
the science of vulcanology
with examples of two types
of eruption (Vulcanian and
Strombolian) and thus have
featured prominently in the
education of geologists for
more than 200 years. The
site continues to enrich the
field of vulcanology.
◦ Monte San Giorgio, Italy
◦ The pyramid-shaped, wooded
mountain of Monte San
Giorgio beside Lake Lugano is
regarded as the best fossil
record of marine life from the
Triassic Period (245–230 million
years ago). The sequence
records life in a tropical lagoon
environment, sheltered and
partially separated from the
open sea by an offshore reef.
Diverse marine life flourished
within this lagoon, including
reptiles, fish, bivalves,
ammonites, echinoderms and
crustaceans. Because the
lagoon was near land, the
remains also include land-
based fossils of reptiles, insects
and plants, resulting in an
extremely rich source of fossils.
◦ Mount Etna, Italy
◦ Mount Etna is an iconic site
encompassing 19,237 uninhabited
hectares on the highest part of Mount
Etna, on the eastern coast of Sicily.
Mount Etna is the highest Mediterranean
island mountain and the most active
stratovolcano in the world. The eruptive
history of the volcano can be traced
back 500,000 years and at least 2,700
years of this activity has been
documented. The almost continuous
eruptive activity of Mount Etna
continues to influence volcanology,
geophysics and other Earth science
disciplines. The volcano also supports
important terrestrial ecosystems
including endemic flora and fauna and
its activity makes it a natural laboratory
for the study of ecological and
biological processes. The diverse and
accessible range of volcanic features
such as summit craters, cinder cones,
lava flows and the Valle de Bove
depression have made the site a prime
destination for research and education.
◦ Mount Athos, Greece
◦ An Orthodox spiritual centre
since 1054, Mount Athos has
enjoyed an autonomous
statute since Byzantine times.
The 'Holy Mountain', which is
forbidden to women and
children, is also a recognized
artistic site. The layout of the
monasteries (about 20 of which
are presently inhabited by
some 1,400 monks) had an
influence as far afield as Russia,
and its school of painting
influenced the history of
Orthodox art.
◦ Meteora, Greece
◦ In a region of almost
inaccessible sandstone
peaks, monks settled on
these 'columns of the sky'
from the 11th century
onwards. Twenty-four of
these monasteries were
built, despite incredible
difficulties, at the time of
the great revival of the
eremetic ideal in the 15th
century. Their 16th-
century frescoes mark a
key stage in the
development of post-
Byzantine painting.
REFERENCE
◦ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/?search=&search_by_country=&videos=&region=1&orde
r=&order=year&type=cultural
◦ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/?search=&search_by_country=&videos=&region=1&orde
r=&order=year&type=natural