Last month, UNESCO announced the addition of 13 new World Heritage Sites to its list of some 890 destinations worldwide. Among the new sites were Italy’s Dolomite mountains, the Wadden Sea wetlands of Germany and the Netherlands and China’s Mount Wutai. The new list also included the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgysztan.
In a rare move, however, UNESCO removed Germany’s Elbe River valley in Dresden from its World Heritage list, citing bridge construction across the river that spoils the picturesque landscape. Dresden is often referred to as the “Florence of the Elbe” because of its distinctive Baroque architecture, and the city has undergone major efforts to restore its historic city center following Allied bomb attacks that took place in 1945.
www.unesco.org
