A whole World of Heritage

How many UNESCO World Heritage sites does Japan have? What are they? How does Japan’s tally compare with other countries? How many times are you going to say “Now, there’s something I didn’t know!” while reading this article?

The Iwami Silver Mine in Shimane Prefecture isn’t the most famous of Japan’s tourist attractions. But this year it was officially listed as a World Heritage site. That means it will soon be getting a lot more tourists. World Heritage sites receive a lot of coverage in the Japanese media, are included as part of the curriculum in many Japanese schools and Japanese travel agencies offer World Heritage themed tours. TBS’ Sekai Isan (World Heritage) TV show was first broadcast in 1996 and every week since then has devoted a half hour to a different site.

The status of World Heritage site is bestowed by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. There are currently 851 World Heritage Sites and new sites are added every year. UNESCO says their goal is “to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. Cultural heritage refers to monuments, groups of buildings and sites with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value. Natural heritage refers to outstanding physical, biological and geological formations, habitats of threatened species of animals and plants and areas with scientific, conservation or aesthetic value.”

Japan is home to 14 World Heritage sites. If you read in one of the popular guides to Japan that Kyoto alone has 17 World Heritage sites, you might be confused. The different temples and shrines of Kyoto are in fact considered as one World Heritage area by UNESCO and are listed as “the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.”

The Iwami Silver mine might seem a strange choice when you consider that Mt. Fuji isn’t a World Heritage site. Mt. Fuji’s candidacy has been hampered by claims of excessive pollution at the site. Other Japanese sites that are being considered for World Heritage status include churches in Nagasaki, Hikone Castle, Kamakura’s temples and shrines and the Tomioka Silk Mill.

Only one site has ever been removed from the list. This year an Arabian Oryx (a kind of antelope) sanctuary in Oman had its World Heritage status revoked. Oman had greatly reduced the size of the park and UNESCO decided this diminished the park’s value.

The oldest buildings given World Heritage status are the megalithic temples of Ggantija, in Malta. The temples were built around 3600BC making them much older than the pyramids at Giza (2650BC) and Stonehenge (2200BC). The newest building on the list is the Sydney Opera House, which was finished in 1973.

Thanks to the building efforts of the Roman Empire, Italy has the most World Heritage sites (41), of any country. Italy is followed by Spain (40) and China (35).

Other countries and their number of sites include: Australia (17), Canada (14), France (31), Germany (32), New Zealand (3), South Korea (8), the UK (27) and the USA (20). In the past, UNESCO has been criticized for showing a bias in choosing European Christian monuments.

This year also marked the announcement of a new Seven Wonders of the World. UNESCO was not involved with this list. Instead the results were obtained by a worldwide vote. People were asked to choose what they thought was the most impressive human built structure. As the only remaining member of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Pyramids at Giza were exempt from the vote. The seven sites chosen were The Great Wall (China), Machu Picchu (Peru), the Statue of Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), the Colosseum (Rome), Petra (Jordan), Chichen Itza (Mexico) and the Taj Mahal (India). Kiyomizudera of Japan was one of the runners-up.

Text: Aidan Doyle • Photos: Atmo Nartan