A World Heritage Site is a place (such as a building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, or mountain) that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as being of special cultural or physical significance. The list is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 UNESCO member states which are elected by the General Assembly.
UNESCO World Heritage sites
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10Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km (37 mi) to the east of Aqaba, it is the largest wadi in Jordan. The name Rum most likely comes from an Aramaic root meaning 'high' or 'elevated'. To reflect its proper Arabic pronunciation, archaeologists transcribe it as Wadi Ramm.
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10Walls of Thessaloniki
The Walls of Thessaloniki are the city walls surrounding the city of Thessaloniki during the Middle Ages and until the late 19th century, when large parts of the walls, including the entire seaward section, were demolished as part of the Ottoman authorities' restructuring of Thessaloniki's urban fabric.
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10Wartburg Castle
The Wartburg is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a 410 metres precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany.
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10Waterton Lakes National Park
Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada, and borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States.
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10Weesp (Fortified City of Weesp)
Weesp is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It had a population of 18,255 in 2014. Weesp (Fortified City of Weesp).
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10Weimar Palace
Weimar Palace in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany. It is now called Stadtschloss to distinguish it from other palaces in and around Weimar.
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10West Battery, Muiden, Defence Line of Amsterdam
West Battery is a smaller fort from the Defence Line of Amsterdam (Stelling van Amsterdam). It is located near the waterfront at the western end of town, there is a very small but nice sandy beach next to it.
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10Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster.
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10White City, Berlin
The White City in Berlin, also known as Swiss Quarter, in reference to the street names in the vicinity of the complex, was commissioned by the head of city planning at the time, Martin Wagner. Wagner was also responsible for other social housing projects in Berlin.
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10Wieliczka Salt Mine
The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Krakow metropolitan area. Opened in the 13th century, the mine produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest salt mines in operation. Throughout, the Royal mine was run by the Zupy krakowskie Salt Mines company.
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10Wilhelmshohe Palace (Schloss Wilhelmshohe)
Schloss Wilhelmshohe is a Neoclassical palace located in Bad Wilhelmshohe (DE), a part of Kassel, Germany. It was built for Landgrave Wilhelm (William) IX of Hesse in the late 18th century. Emperor Wilhelm II made extensive use of it as a summer residence and personal retreat.
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2Windmill Hill, Avebury
Windmill Hill is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure in the English county of Wiltshire, part of the Avebury World Heritage Site, about 1 mile (2 km) northwest of Avebury.
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10Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837.
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1Wittumspalais, Weimar
After a fire in the town palace, Wittumspalais was turned into the dowager residence of Duchess Anna Amalia. The two-winged building is an important document of noble interior design in Weimar.
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1Wooden church of St. Michael the Archangel, Ladomirova
The Greek Catholic wooden church of St. Michael the Archangel was included in 2008, along with seven wooden churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area, on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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7Woodhenge
Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class II henge and timber circle monument located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury.
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10Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park is located about 100 kilometres southeast of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada or 44 kilometres east of the community of Milk River, and straddles the Milk River itself. It is one of the largest areas of protected prairie in the Alberta park system, and serves as both a nature preserve and protection for a large number of aboriginal rock carvings and paintings.
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10Wudang Mountains
The Wudang Mountains consist of a small mountain range in the northwestern part of Hubei, China, just south of Shiyan. They are home to a famous complex of Taoist temples and monasteries associated with the god Xuan Wu.
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10Wurzburg Residence (Wurzburg Palace)
The Wurzburg Residence is a palace in Wurzburg, Lower Franconia. Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and Maximilian von Welsch, representatives of the Austrian/South German Baroque style, were involved in the construction, as well as Robert de Cotte and Germain Boffrand, who were followers of the French Style.
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10Xanthos (Ancient City)
Xanthos was the name of a city in ancient Lycia, the site of present-day Kinik, Antalya Province, Turkey, and of the river on which the city is situated. The ruins of Xanthus are on the south slopes of a hill, the ancient acropolis, located on the northern outskirts of the modern city, on the left bank of the Xanthus, which flows beneath the hill.
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10Xidi
Xidi is a village in Yi County of the historical Huizhou region of Anhui province, China. It was declared a part of the "Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui" World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, along with Hongcun.
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10Yakushima
Yakushima is one of the Osumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
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8Yangdong Folk Village
Yangdong Folk Village is a traditional village from the Joseon Dynasty. The village is located in Gangdong-myeon, sixteen kilometers northeast of Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, along the Hyeongsan River.
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10Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
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8Yinxu
Yinxu is the site of one of the ancient and major historical capitals of China. It is the source of the archeological discovery of oracle bones and oracle bone script, which resulted in the recognition of the earliest known Chinese writing.
