User:Giuliana Mancini (WMIT)/Sandbox2

Africa[edit]

Mali: Old Town of Djennè[edit]

Djenné is a town and an urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali, famous for its distinctive adobe architecture and for the Great Mosque, built in 1907. In the southern part of the town is Djenné-Djeno, the site of one of the oldest known urbanised areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Djenné and Djenné-Djeno were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Regional insecurity, the deteriorating state of the historic town, urbanization and erosion have raised many problems around the conservation status of the town. In a 2006 World Heritage Committee report was highlighted the “lack of technical and financial resources and competence within the Djenné to resolve the city’s urban development and sanitation problems.”

Uganda: The Kasubi Tombs[edit]

The Kasubi Tombs in Kampala, Uganda, are the burial grounds for four kabakas (kings of Buganda) and other members of the Baganda royal family. The complex became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2001. On March 2010 the Kasubi tombs were destroyed by fire, the cause of the fire is yet unknown, but occurred in the midst of a problematic relationship between the government of Uganda and the Buganda kingdom. The site remains an important spiritual and political site for the Ganda people, as well as an important example of traditional architecture.

Egypt: Abu Mena[edit]

Abu Mena was a town, monastery complex and Christian pilgrimage center in Late Antique Egypt, about 45 km southwest of Alexandria. The remains of the old city were designated a World Heritage Site in 1979. Recent agricultural efforts in the area have led to a significant rise in the water table, which has caused a number of the site's buildings to collapse or become unstable. Some cave-ins have occurred due to the clay at the surface becoming softened by the flood waters. Accordingly, authorities have placed sand in the bases of the most at risk buildings in the site.

Arab States[edit]

Syria: Palmyra[edit]

An oasis in the Syrian desert, northeast of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world. Palmyra was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1980 and has been on the list of World Heritage in Danger since 2013. On January 2017 Islamic State militants have destroyed a tetrapylon and part of a Roman theatre. UNESCO received several reports and satellite imagery confirming the destruction of both of the sites. UNESCO Director-General firmly condemned the action, speaking of “a new war crime and an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity.”

Libya: Old Town of Ghadamès[edit]

Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert' is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities and an outstanding example of a traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture is characterized by a vertical division of functions: the ground floor used to store supplies; then another floor for the family, overhanging covered alleys that create what is almost an underground network of passageways; and, at the top, open-air terraces reserved for the women. Both the civil war and a water shortage in the city has caused many economic issues. These issues have lead to people leave the city meaning many of the structures are collapsing due lack of maintenance.

Jordan:Petra[edit]

Petra is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan, famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Petra is also known as the Rose City, due to the color of the stone from which it is carved. The site suffers from several kinds of threats, including collapse of ancient structures, erosion due to flooding and improper rainwater drainage, weathering from salt upwelling, improper restoration of ancient structures, and unsustainable tourism. Tourism has increased substantially, especially since the site has received widespread media coverage in 2007 during a New Seven Wonders of the World campaign.

Asia and the Pacific[edit]

Nepal: Bhaktapur Dubar Square[edit]

The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of Asia, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several pilgrimage sites for Hindus and Buddhists. The valley hosts a UNESCO World Heritage Site with seven preserved locations and, since 2003, UNESCO has listed the sites as being endangered out of concern for the ongoing loss of authenticity and the outstanding universal value of the cultural property. On the April 2015 the Nepal earthquake hit the valley causing thousands of deaths and the destruction of many buildings. More than 30 monuments in the Kathmandu Valley collapsed in the quakes, and another 120 incurred partial damage.

India: Hampi[edit]

Hampi is a village and temple town recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the “Group of Monuments at Hampi in northern Karnataka”, India. It is located within the ruins of the city of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the namesake Empire. Non-profit organization Global Heritage Fund, the Hampi Foundation, Cornell University, and the State of Karnataka, have been actively involved in the conservation of Hampi's unique cultural heritage. In addition, UNESCO has recently raised concerns over irrigation and water-intensive agricultural practices that “pose a threat” to the World Heritage Site and can cause future conservation issues.

Uzbekistan: Shakhrisabz[edit]

Shakhrisabz is a city in Qashqadaryo Region in southern Uzbekistan. Once a major city of Central Asia, it is primarily known today as the birthplace of 14th-century Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur. Several remaining impressive monuments from the Timurid Dynasty in the old part of the city have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Unfortunately, the old city witnesses a gradual destruction of the buildings in its medieval neighbourhoods and the continuing urban development threatens its integrity. This can be seen particularly on the Timur's Summer Palace, where only parts of its gigantic 65 m gate-towers with blue, white and gold mosaics have survived.

Europe[edit]

Italy: The 2012 earthquake[edit]

In May 2012, two major earthquakes occurred in Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage. The first earthquake, registering magnitude 6.1, struck in the Emilia-Romagna region on 20 May. On 29 May a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the same area. At least 100 structures of historical significance have been damaged or destroyed, and many churches in towns around the epicentre suffered damages. This pictures portrays the Church of San Felice Vescovo Martire, placed in San Felice sul Panaro, a little village close to Modena. Thanks to Wiki Loves Monuments, this became a well-known picture representing the earthquake and the importance of the preservation of the cultural sites.

United Kingdom: St. Michaels Mount[edit]

In 2008 the National Trust reported that almost 200 miles of some of the most precious stretches of south-west England's coastline were threatened by rising sea levels, putting beaches, cliffs, harbours and buildings in danger to be lost forever. Within this "risk zone", among the 111 listed buildings is St. Michaels Mount, a civil parish linked to the town of Marazion by a man-made causeway of granite setts, passable between mid-tide and low water. Its Cornish language name – literally, "the grey rock in a wood" – may represent a folk memory of a time before Mount's Bay was flooded, indicating a description of the mount set in woodland.

Latin America[edit]

Panama[edit]

Military fortifications were built by the Spanish Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries on the Caribbean coastline of Panama. In 1989 the sites were inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site as Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo due to their cultural importance. After Panama became an independent country, Spain abandoned the San Lorenzo Fort in 1821. Following the merger of Panama with Colombia, the fort was used as a prison. For more than two centuries there had been total neglect of the forts and battlements resulting in vegetation overgrowth until the Government of Panama restored them. In July 2012, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee placed the sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to environmental concerns, inadequate maintenance and unchecked urban developments.

Chile[edit]

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, these two former saltpeter refineries contain over 200 former saltpeter works where workers from Chile, Peru and Bolivia lived in company towns and forged a distinctive communal pampinos culture. Situated in the remote desert Pampa, thousands of pampinos lived and worked in this hostile environment for over 60 years, from 1880, to process the largest deposit of saltpeter in the world. The site also produced the fertilizer sodium nitrate that was to transform agricultural lands in North and South America and in Europe, producing great wealth for Chile. Because of the vulnerability of the structures and because of the impact of a recent earthquake, the site was also placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, to help mobilize resources for its conservation.

Perù: Chan Chan[edit]

Located in the La Libertad Region, 5 kilometres west of Trujillo, Peru, Chan Chan was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America and is now an archaeological site. The site has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1986, in 1998, a plan for the conservation of the complex was drawn up by the Freedom National Culture Institute of Peru and other international institutions. However, the ancient structures of Chan Chan are constantly threatened by erosion due to changes in weather patterns caused by El Niño including heavy rains, flooding and strong winds.