Like every year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee – that is, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture – evaluated the Proposals of new cultural and natural sites from all over the worldand for 2025 he added well 26 to the list of world heritagetouching the share of 1248 sites scattered in 170 countries. Among the sites of this year there is also that of Domus de Janasancient prehistoric rock tombs dug in the rock in Sardinia dating back to the Neolithic, which was added to via Appia (which has become a UNESCO heritage in 2024) bringing to 61 the sites recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in Italy.
But what does this recognition involve? That certain cultural heritage have global importance And, as such, they deserve to be protected by war and environmental degradation. Among the powers of the UN Agency, from which the United States have recently decided to withdraw (again), there is also the granting of greater protection for the sites considered at risk.
This year, almost a third of the new subscribers it is linked to prehistoryand some are connected to the communities local indigenous. But where are the new sites? Let’s see them for continents.
The sites in Asia
In Asia there are many: there is the birthplace of the “Zen Vietnamese tradition” of Buddhism Truc Lamwith a complex consisting of over 20 sites in Vietnam; Then, in Cambodia, to honor the memory of the millions of victims of the Khmer Rossi regime, the Cambodian memory sitesonce places of violent repression; In Tagikistan the Ancient Khuttal siteswhich illustrate the rich cultural diversity of the medieval kingdom of the same name that flourished between the VII and the 16th century AD; there are two new ones in South Korea, That is, the petroglifi along the Bangucheon stream and Mount Kumgang (“Mountain of diamond”), famous for its white granite peaks and pristine ecosystems; Then there is the Forest Research Institute Malaysia Forest Park Selangor, a rainforest created artificially in Malaysia on land degraded by the extraction of the tin; In China the Imperial tombs of XIXIA, An imperial necropolis of the homonymous dynasty at the foot of the southern Helan mountains; Then there is the Paleopaesaggio di Fayain the United Arab Emirates, with human occupation testimonies dating back to the medium and Neolithic Paleolithic; the Military Landscapes MaraTha of Indiaconsisting of 12 fortifications built, adapted or enlarged by the marathas between seventeenth and nineteenth centuries; The prehistoric sites of the Valle di Khorramabadin Iran, where the first human presence dates back to 63,000 years ago; he is Bin Tepe Lidi mounds In Türkiye around ancient Sardi, capital of the powerful civilization of the Lidi of the Iron Age (VIII-VII century BC).
The sites in Europe
In Europe the Domus de Janas In Sardinia, hypogean tombs dating back to the Neolithic also known as “Fairy Houses”; the Four Castles of King Ludovico II of Bavaria (Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee), built in Germany between 1864 and 1886 on the inspiration of German fairy tales; The megalites of Carnac and the banks of Morbihan in France, built in the Neolithic; great Møns Klint in Denmark70 million years limestone cliffs overlooking the Baltic Sea; In Crete, Greece, the Minoan palatial centerswhich represent one of the main prehistoric cultures of the Mediterranean, the one minoic precisely; Finally, in Russia, the Raven paintings of the Shulgan-Tash cavein the southern urals, dating back to the late Paleolithic.
The sites in Africa
In Africa there are four: are the Cultural Landscape of the DIY-GID-BIY of the Mandara Mountains, a set of 16 archaeological sites distributed on seven villages in Cameroon; The Bijagós archipelago – Omatí Minhô in Guinea-Bissauwhich combines a series of coastal and marine ecosystems; the Mulanje mountain range of Malawi Southern, edited by the peoples Yao, Mang’anja and Lhomwe; and the Gola-Tiwai complex in Sierra Leone (the first site for the country), which includes the Gola Pluvial Forest National Park and the Faunistic Shrine of the island of Tiwai. A good of South Africa, then, was extended to Mozambique, creating a cross -border natural park.
The sites in America
In the Americas the Canyon of the Peruaçu river, In Brazil, with a system of karst caves rich in biodiversity; The Wixárika walka heritage that extends for over 500 km through five states of central-northern Mexico by connecting central sacred landscapes for the spiritual and cultural practices of the homonymous indigenous peoples; there Panama transistmic colonial brokenone of the two main land exchanges between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and the SEICENTANCH ARCHEOOLOGY OF PORT ROYALin Kingston, in the south-eastern Jamaica, which collects what survived the important English port city after the devastating earthquake of 1692.
And the only new site in Oceania
Finally, there is only one in Oceania: the landscape of rocks engraved by Murujugain north-western Australia, shaped by the presence of natives Ngarda–Ngar themtraditional owners and spiritual custodians of the site for over 50,000 years.
