New UNESCO World Heritage Sites 2024 Have Been Announced

Published by FareCompare on August 5, 2024

This month, twenty four new sites, spanning from cultural treasures to natural wonders, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List for 2024.

The new additions were inscribed as part of the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee, which was held in July in New Delhi, India. The complete list of World Heritage sites now features 1,223 properties across 168 countries and states.

New to the list this year are Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines, which are located about 21 miles west of the Niigata Prefecture coast, along with the archaeological heritage of Malaysia’s Niah National Park’s Caves Complex, which contain "the longest known records of human interaction with rainforest."

The UNESCO World Heritage list also added several cultural properties, such as Germany's Schwerin Residence Ensemble, which was largely built in the 19th century and features the Grand Duke’s Residence Palace and manor houses.

No new sites in the United States were added to the list, but UNESCO did recognize "significant modifications to the boundaries [of] cultural properties" for Moravian Church Settlements, including in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

This year’s additions join 42 other sites that were added to the World Heritage List last year.

In addition to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites, the group examines sites it deems "in danger." Last year, UNESCO opted not to add the city of Venice to its list of world heritage sites in danger, despite recommendations to do so.

2024 UNESCO World Heritage List – Newly Inscribed Sites

Cultural Properties 

• Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble Exhibiting the Ideal Order of the Chinese Capital (China)

  

• Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu (Romania)
• Cultural Landscape of Kenozero Lake (Russian Federation)
• Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Dacia (Romania)
• Hegmataneh (Iran)
• Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites (South Africa)
• Melka Kunture and Balchit: Archaeological and Palaeontological Sites in the Highland Area of Ethiopia (Ethiopia)
• Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty (India)
• Phu Phrabat, a testimony to the Sīma stone tradition of the Dvaravati period (Thailand)
• Royal Court of Tiébélé (Burkina Faso)
• Sado Island Gold Mines (Japan)
• Saint Hilarion Monastery/ Tell Umm Amer (State of Palestine)
• Schwerin Residence Ensemble (Germany)

  

• The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves Complex (Malaysia)
• The Cultural Landscape of Al-Faw Archaeological Area (Saudi Arabia)
• The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa (South Africa)
• The Historic Town and Archaeological Site of Gedi (Kenya)
• Umm Al-Jimāl (Jordan)
• Via Appia. Regina Viarum (Italy)

Natural Properties

• Badain Jaran Desert – Towers of Sand and Lakes (China)

  

• Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Brazil)
• The Flow Country (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
• Vjetrenica Cave, Ravno (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

New Inscribed Mixed Properties

• Te Henua Enata – The Marquesas Islands (France)