THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORLD HERITAGE SITES.

By a group of participants from IES de Catabois in the project.

World Heritage Sites are patrimony of humanity. And what does that mean? It means precisely that: patrimony of all human kind, something that is important or relevant to any human being on planet Earth, something that has been inherited from our ancestors and that we must preserve. Why are there places which are catalogued like that? Its just because of their importance or relevance through history. They are usually beautiful outstanding monuments or traditions which our ancestors from different cultures have built with big effort, which have survived in good conditions to the passing of time and which deserve being preserved for future generations so that our descendants get to know what the world was like in previous times.
 

UNESCO is the international organization which is in charge of the World Heritage Sites. It belongs to the United Nations organism and its acronym means United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 195 countries form it and other 9 are associates.

It's a shame that, at times of war, the destruction of this invaluable inheritance is used as a tool to spoil the cultural richness and background of a country. It destroys in some way the soul of a civili-zation and definitely affects the rest of humanity as they are irrecoverable losses.

 

The citadel of Aleppo before the war.
                                                                 Palmyra before the war. The Arch of Triumph, today destroyed.

At present, since 2013, six UNESCO sites have been in danger in devastated Syria. Just to name but a few examples, some parts of the Ancient City of Aleppo have been destroyed and at least a part of the site of Palmyra, including the temples of Baalshamin and Bel as well as the Arch of Triumph of the site were dynamited by DAESH in 2015. They were beautiful temples which showed the influence of the Roman and Greek cultures in the area at the time of their construction, 3rd century BC. UNESCO has launched several plans since 2014 in order to prevent the destruction and to protect relevant monuments and pieces of art in the country but not much has been achieved up to now. As well, groups of citizens are helping prevent damage to their historical heritage.
 

In the photograph, the Temple of Concordia at the Valley of the Temples in Sicily.

On the other hand, in countries with no war conflicts, we can find really good examples of the Roman and Greek influence we have mentioned before. In a recent visit to Sicily, we could appreciate the beauty and good estate of preservation of places such as Agrigento and The Valley of the Temples (Greek style) or the remains of both Greek and Roman cultures in the city of Syracuse.
In our project, we have investigated and we keep on investigating a few of the World Heritage Sites present in each participating country. Related articles about are published in our ejournal.

SPAIN:
-Tower of Hercules, listed in 2009.
-Santiago de Compostela (Old Town), listed in 1985.
-Las Médulas, listed in 1997.

POLAND:
-Historic Centre of Krakow, listed in 1978.
-Wieliczka Royal Salt Mine, listed in 1978, extended in 2008 and 2013.
-Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945), listed in 1979.

SWEDEN:
-Rock Carvings in Tanum, listed in 1994.

ITALY: (Sicily)
-Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale, listed in 2015.
-Archaeological Area of Agrigento, listed in 1997.
-Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica, listed in 2005.

PHOTOGRAPHS:
Aleppo: http://www.viajablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Alepo-ciudadela.jpg 
Palmyra http://www.publico.es/files/article_main/uploads/2015/10/05/56121b3c43574.jpg 
UNESCO:  http://es.ipcdigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Unesco.jpg