26 new UNESCO World Heritage Sites for 2025
The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Germany
When Walt Disney needed inspiration for the castle in Sleeping Beauty, he turned to the stunning palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Built between 1864 and 1886, the spires of Neuschwanstein Castle tower over the Bavarian Alps. King Ludwig II, who would be declared mad shortly after the castle's completion, drew inspiration for the castle's design from fairy tales and the operas of Wagner. The castle features grand murals of forests and cherubs alongside a hidden grotto built to connect the King's living space and offices.
Between 1975 and 1979, Cambodia's Khmer Rouge party killed between two and three million people. Inspired by radical Maoist ideology, the party led by Pol Pot killed ethnic, educated, urban, or professionally trained individuals. Perceived opponents of the regime were taken to sites which became known as the killing fields, where they were murdered and dumped in mass graves. These graves were so shallow that bones of the dead can still be seen sticking out of the ground to this day.
One of these sites, formally an orchard located 6 miles (10km) south of the capital Phnom Penh, was made into a memorial site for the atrocity named the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. The centre includes a large Buddhist stupa, or tower, made out of hundreds of unidentified skulls from those killed at the site. The Killing Fields and the notorious S-21 and M-13 prison, where thousands were tortured, have all been made part of the UNESCO world heritage list.
Mount Kumgang, North Korea
Known as the Diamond Mountain from the Sea, Mount Kumang is now one of three UNESCO World Heritage sites in North Korea. UNESCO has added the area as a mixed site, meaning it has outstanding natural and cultural value. This area is renowned for its valleys, waterfalls, incredible biodiversity, and peaks rising to nearly 5,250 ft (1,600m). Due to the local climate, these mountains are constantly shrouded by a changing pattern of mists, rain, and clouds. Additionally, the area has been considered sacred by Korean Buddhists for hundreds of years. The site is home to ancient stone carvings and temples dating back as far as the 5th century, including three which are still active today. Until January last year, the site was also one of the very few locations open to South Korean tourists as part of the so-called 'Sunshine Policy'.
Gola-Tiwai Complex, Sierra Leone
The Gola-Tiwai Complex is the first UNESCO World Heritage site in Sierra Leone and has been added following decades of conservation work in the region. The complex will include the 700 square kilometre Gola-Tiwai National Park as well as the nearby Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary. Once considered at threat by logging and civil war, this rainforest is home to a bewildering array of rare and endangered species. The area hosts more than 1,000 plant species, 55 mammals, up to 448 birds, and 600 species of butterfly.
It is also the last remaining home of the forest elephant and pygmy hippopotamus in Sierra Leone. Pygmy hippos, made famous by Khao Kheow Open Zoo's Moo Deng , are now found in only a handful of waterways in West Africa and are considered endangered. The forest is also key to the survival of some species we would recognise here in the UK, such as migratory swifts which stop to rest in Gola-Tiwai on their way to Europe.
Port Royal, Jamaica
In the 17th century, the town of Port Royal was a major hub of English trade in the Caribbean and a notorious pirate haven nicknamed 'the wickedest city of Earth'. The city was home to English and Dutch 'Privateers', gangs of marauding pirates encouraged to attack the Spanish fleets. On shore, these wealthy criminals would spend their ill-gotten cash in the city's many taverns and gambling dens.
However, a major earthquake in 1692 and an accompanying tsunami sank most of the port into the ocean. What remained of the town was then destroyed by a fire and a hurricane in the following years, all but wiping Port Royal off the map. Today, the remains of the pirate town are still found beneath the waves where they have been converted into a major archaeological site. This area, known as the Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal, has now been officially recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage site.
The 26 New UNESCO World Heritage Sites
1. Cambodian Memorial Sites: From centres of repression to places of peace and reflection (Cambodia) 2. Coastal and Marine Ecosystems of the Bijagós Archipelago, Omatí Minhô (Guinea-Bissau) 3. Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal (Tajikistan) 4. Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains (Cameroon) 5. Faya Palaeolandscape (United Arab Emirates) 6. Forest Research Institute Malaysia Forest Park Selangor (Malaysia) 7. Funerary Tradition in the Prehistory of Sardinia, The domus de janas (Italy) 8. Gola-Tiwai Complex (Sierra Leone) 9. Maratha Military Landscapes of India (India) 10. Megaliths of Carnac and of the shores of Morbihan (France) 11. Minoan Palatial Centres (Greece) 12. Mount Kumgang, Diamond Mountain from the Sea (North Korea) 13. Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape (Malawi).
14. Møns Klint (Denmark) 15. Murujuga Cultural Landscape (Australia) 16. Peruaçu River Canyon (Brazil) 17. Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream (South Korea) 18. Prehistoric Sites of the Khorramabad Valley (Iran) 19. Rock Paintings of Shulgan-Tash Cave (Russia) 20. Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe (Turkey) 21. The Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal (Jamaica) 22. The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá (Panama) 23. The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee (Germany) 24. Wixárika Route through Sacred Sites to Wirikuta (Tatehuarí Huajuyé, Mexico) 25. Xixia Imperial Tombs (China) 26. Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex of Monuments and Landscapes (Vietnam).
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
What Santiago's many 'Camino' pilgrims often miss
Europe's most famous pilgrimage destination is also one of Spain's most stunning – and under-explored – cities. Now, the city is keen to show off its artsy side. For the last 1,200 years, the Unesco World Heritage city of Santiago de Compostela has best been known as a pilgrimage destination for devout Catholics. Last year alone, nearly 500,000 faithful hikers set out along the series of well-trodden trails called "the Camino", journeying through the lush wooded hills and river-flecked valleys of Galicia in north-west Spain to reach the city's towering Romanesque years, I'd heard about Santiago's beauty from friends and fellow travellers who had gazed upon its towering church spires and twisting honey-coloured lanes. Yet, one of the great ironies is that many of those who had walked for weeks or even months to get there admitted that once they arrived, they shuffled alongside the masses into the cathedral to see the tomb of St James, slumped into one of the many touristy tapas bars around Rua Franco and then quickly headed home. If they had just taken a few more steps, I'd always wondered, would they have discovered more? I wanted to dig deeper into the city's medieval and more modern heart, but I didn't have the time or energy to trek the demanding trail myself. Fortunately, a high-speed rail route now whisks travellers across the nation to Santiago, giving visitors a blister-free way to explore one of Spain's most stunning – and under-explored – cities. The fast track Though Spain boasts Europe's longest and most-advanced high-speed train network (second in the world only to China's), it wasn't until December 2021 that the nation extended its three-decade-old high-speed Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) network to Santiago. "We're in an isolated corner of Spain," Ana Munín, from the Santiago de Compostela Convention Bureau, tells me. "We get things last." Stepping onto the platform at Madrid's Chamartin station, the white flanks of my streamlined AVE train were adorned with proclamations of its top speed (330km/h) plus a logo indicating that it was powered by 100% renewable energy. According to Munín, the arrival of these high-speed trains has brought an increase of Spanish travellers to Santiago, while simultaneously reducing the number of flights arriving at its small regional airport. "A one-hour flight – it is just wrong," she remarks. As my train leaves Madrid, I watch the seat-back speedometer rise inexorably until, after 20 minutes, I'm cruising serenely along at 300km/h. Arid plains dotted with weathered ochre-coloured villages and clusters of hardy trees scrolls by. Passing the city of Zamora, moorland gives way to sylvan valleys where mountain streams glint below the tracks. The train eases across the wide span of the Miño, Galicia's longest river, as we reach the ancient hot springs town of Ourense. From here, a series of viaducts carry us across hills carpeted by a tight arboreal tapestry, dotted with colourful villages whose facades seem brighter in the clear hill air. Barely more than three hours after leaving Madrid, I step off the train into the heart of Santiago. A new vision Pilgrims approaching Santiago on the Camino's network of trails often describe their first glimpse of the cathedral's ornate spires. Instead, I was struck by the dramatic rollercoaster curves and soaring glass facades of the City of Culture architectural complex, which rises atop Mount Gaiás and overlooks the train station below. Designed by US starchitect Peter Eisenman, this eye-popping, futuristic set of museums, gardens and libraries was designed as a "beacon for pilgrims of knowledge" when its first two buildings opened to the public in 2011. Inside the vast multipurpose cultural space (now known simply as the Gaias Centre Museum), I take in a retrospective of artist Rafael Ubeda before wandering through an exhibition on global tattoo designs and culture at the neighbouring UTESA convention and culture centre. "We have fantastic contemporary architecture, modern art – and the gastronomy scene has just grown and grown," Munín later tells me. As we sit at a communal table sipping Galicia's world-renowned Mencia wine and savouring the region's prized octopus and mackerel at Abastos 2.0, a hip diner attached to the historic food market, I look around and noticed that there doesn't appear to be a single foreign visitor in sight. "Santiago is also very much a university city," adds Munín, revealing that a quarter of the city's 100,000 residents study or work at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, which dates back to 1495. As she explained, this infuses the city with a vibrant, youthful energy, as students and young creatives frequently showcase their work at pop-up arts events – like the exhibition of contemporary photographs I soon stumble upon housed in a 17th-Century church nestled amid the city's medieval core. Santiago's Old Town is a glorious, compact melange of squares and historic porticoed streets that give way to promenade-lined parks like the central Alameda and more secluded Bonaval. Munín explains that in recent years, ancient edifices have been refashioned into atmospheric museums. But unlike the tourist-thronged cathedral, I experience near solitude in every other cultural space I visit – as if the pilgrims don't realise that reflection can be stirred in Santiago's quiet corners, as well as on the trail. Inside the austere granite outlines of CGAC (Galician Centre for Contemporary Art), for example, I see just four other people during my hour spent exploring three floors that include a brilliant exhibition of Galician photographer Mar Caldas. Mere metres from the end of three Camino trails (the French, Northern and Primitivo Ways) on Rua de San Pedro, incoming pilgrims walk right past a showcase by young Galician artists at the tiny Defímeras gallery. After taking it in, I tuck into a luscious Galician bean stew and generous pork loin at the nearby local favourite O Dezaseis. Inside a neighbouring Dominican convent now housing the Museum of the Galician People, there's just one other person absorbing evocative displays of ancient industries, linked via a dazzling Baroque spiral staircase. At Colexio de Fonseca, the university's oldest college, I immerse myself in a contemporary art show beside its leafy Renaissance courtyard while all alone. Ditto at the nearby Fundacion Eugenio Granell, which showcases Surrealist art inside an 18th-Century mansion once believed to be Santiago's loveliest. The following day I visit Casa RIA, a foundation opened in 2023 by famed British architect David Chipperfield which aims to promote sustainable development in the area. As well as displaying exhibitions on topics like Galician food markets, there's a stylish in-house cantina whose affordable daily menus include produce from the foundation's allotment in its tranquil rear garden. "We've welcomed academics from Shanghai's Tongji University and MIT, but also a few people every day visiting the exhibition or stopping by the canteen," Casa RIA's director, Inés Piñeiro Ozores, tells me. Interestingly, she adds, very few of their visitors are pilgrims. Back at the city's main square, the vast Praza do Obradoiro, I watch the melee of faithful mill around the cathedral. Suddenly, the sound of Galician bagpipes draws me around a corner to discover a piper named Fernando Hernandez playing alone in an ancient archway as a flow of people go by without pausing. He happily tells me about the link between Galician pipes and those of Scotland, Ireland and Brittany before lamenting Santiago's pilgrim hordes. "The Camino has just become a walk for too many people – companies now even carry their bags each day!" he says, before returning to his pipes. More like this:• St James Way: The return of the UK's medieval highway• The Lighthouse Way: Walking Spain's 'other' camino• A 77km hike that could inspire miracles As a record-number of pilgrims have descended on Santiago three years in a row, the city has started pushing back against the negative aspects of overtourism that have prompted fierce protests in other Spanish destinations like Barcelona and the Canary Islands. In Santiago, these include a surge in short-term rentals that push out locals, an influx of souvenir shops selling cheaply manufactured wares and bad tourist behaviour such as pitching tents near the cathedral. In addition to local campaigns such as Compostela Resists, in 2024 the city launched a "Fragile Santiago" campaign to encourage visitors to engage differently. The hope is that visitors seek out handmade local crafts, savour traditional Galician cuisine and take time to discover the city's cultural – and not just religious – heritage. "Every month, Santiago has some sort of arts festival," says Flavia Ramil, director of the city's tourist office, adding a note on their affordability, with tickets starting at just a few euros. "Now, we are seeing more tourists from places like Japan, the US and UK who are very interested in the culture of the city," she says happily. Amen to that. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Telegraph
5 hours ago
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