Friday, August 6, 2010

2010 World Heritage

The New Cultural sites:

1. Australian Convict Sites, Australia.

    The property includes a selection of 11 penal sites, among the thousands established by the British Empire on Australian soil in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are located on the fertile coastal strip from which the Aboriginal peoples were then forced back, mainly around Sydney and in Tasmania, as well as on Norfolk Island and in Fremantle. They housed tens of thousands of men, women and children condemned by British justice to transportation to the convict colonies. Each of the sites had a specific purpose, in terms both of punitive imprisonment and of rehabilitation through forced labour to help build the colony. The property presents the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts.

The 11 penal sites constituting the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listed property are:
(1) Cockatoo Island Convict Site (New South Wales)
(2) Old Great North Road (New South Wales)
(3) Hyde Park Barracks (New South Wales)
(4) Old Government House (New South Wales)
(5) Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area (Norfolk Island)
(6) Brickendon and Woolmers Estates (Tasmania)
(7) Cascades Female Factory (Tasmania)
(8) Coal Mines Historic Site (Tasmania)
(9) Darlington Probation Station (Tasmania)
(10) Port Arthur (Tasmania)
(11) Fremantle Prison (Western Australia)
 
 
 
 
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1306
             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Convict_Sites
 
2. São Francisco Square in the Town of São Cristóvão, Brazil.

    São Francisco Square, in the town of São Cristovão, is a quadrilateral open space surrounded by substantial early buildings such as São Francisco Church and convent, the Church and Santa Casa da Misericórdia, the Provincial Palace and the associated houses of different historical periods surrounding the Square. This monumental ensemble, together with the surrounding 18th- and 19th- century houses, creates an urban landscape which reflects the history of the town since its origin. The Franciscan complex is an example of the typical architecture of the religious order developed in north-eastern Brazil.
 
 



3. Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in “The Centre of Heaven and Earth”, China.

    Mount Songshang is considered to be the central sacred mountain of China. At the foot of this 1500 metre high mountain, close to the city of Dengfeng in Henan province and spread over a 40 square-kilometre circle, stand eight clusters of buildings and sites, including three Han Que gates - remains of the oldest religious edifices in China -, temples, the Zhougong Sundial Platform and the Dengfeng Observatory. Constructed over the course of nine dynasties, these buildings are reflections of different ways of perceiving the centre of heaven and earth and the power of the mountain as a centre for religious devotion. The historical monuments of Dengfeng include some of the best examples of ancient Chinese buildings devoted to ritual, science, technology and education.





4. Episcopal City of Albi, France.

    On the banks of the Tarn river in south-west France, the old city of Albi reflects the culmination of a medieval architectural and urban ensemble. Today the Old Bridge (Pont-Vieux), the Saint-Salvi quarter and its church are testimony to its initial development (10th -11th centuries). Following the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics (13th century) it became a powerful episcopal city. Built in a unique southern French Gothic style from local brick in characteristic red and orange colours, the lofty fortified Cathedral (late 13th century) dominates the city, demonstrating the power regained by the Roman Catholic clergy. Alongside the Cathedral is the vast bishop’s Palais de la Berbie, overlooking the river and surrounded by residential quarters that date back to the Middle Ages. The Episcopal City of Albi forms a coherent and homogeneous ensemble of monuments and quarters that has remained largely unchanged over the centuries.







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