Białowieża Forest

countries. Belarus and Poland

year of inscription. 1979 (extension: 1992, 2014)

criteria. Natural

The Białowieża Forest WHS is located on the border of Belarus and Poland, located in the Belarusian oblasts (regions) of Brest and Grodno and Polish voivodeship (province) of Podlaskie. The WHS covers a large area of undisturbed, old growth primary forests with a rich biodiversity in both flora and fauna, including, what is arguably the most iconic species here, the European bison. Originally, only the Bialowieza National Park in Poland was listed in 1979; the Belarusian part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha was added in 1992. Another large extension of the site occurred in 2014.

The Sundarbans

country. Bangladesh

year of inscription. 1997

criteria. Natural

Sundarbans WHS is located in the division of Khulna. Sited on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers, on the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the largest mangrove forests in the world. It is an important area ecologically for its complex labyrinth of tidal waterways, mudflats and islets of salt-tolerant mangrove vegetation, which provide a home for a wide range of terrestrial, marine and aquatic fauna, including endangered species like the Bengal tiger, the estuarine crocodile, and the Ganges and Irrawaddy dolphins.

The WHS is composed of the following constituent sites:

• Sundarbans East Sanctuary, 
• Sundarbans South Sanctuary, and
• Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary.

Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps

countries. Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland

year of inscription. 2011

criteria. Cultural

Of the 937 known archaeological pile-dwelling sites in six Alpine and sub-Alpine European countries, 111 of these small individual sites compose this WHS. Pile-dwellings settlements are made up of stilt houses located on the edges of lakes, rivers, or wetlands, dating back to between 5,000BCE and 500BCE. These rich archaeological sites provide an insight into life in agrarian societies during the prehistoric Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

These 111 sites are found in the following places:

• Austria: states of Carinthia and Upper Austria
• France: regions of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comte
• Germany: states of Baden-Wurttemburg and Bavaria
• Italy: regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Veneto
• Slovenia: statistical region of Central Slovenia
• Switzerland: cantons of Aargau, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lucerne, Neuchatel, Nidwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Vaud, Zug, and Zurich

Fagus Factory in Alfeld

country. Germany

year of inscription. 2011

criteria. Cultural

The Fagus Factory in Alfeld is a complex of ten industrial buildings in the state of Lower Saxony. Designed by Walter Gropius, development began in 1910. Representing a break from factory designs of that era, it serves as a landmark for modern industrial architecture, brought in part by its determination to provide a humanist angle to the social and aesthetic changes caused by industrialisation, and established major elements of functionalist architecture.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

country. United States of America

year of inscription. 1982 (modification: 2016)

criteria. Cultural

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site WHS is located in the state of Illinois. It is the site of the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. It was the cultural, religious, and economic centre of an agricultural society during the Mississippian Period (800CE – 1400CE), with a population of 10,000 – 20,000 people at its peak between 1050CE and 1150CE. There is up to 120 platform, ridgetop, and conical mounds of varying heights, which served as foundations for buildings or as funerary tumuli. The largest of these is Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthern structure in the New World. The organization of the settlement represents a hierarchical, complex chiefdom society with specialised roles and activities.