Heritage with Related Tags
Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din
These two castles are the most representative examples of the exchange of influences and the evolution of Near Eastern defensive architecture during the Crusades (11th-13th centuries). The Castle of the Knights was built between 1142 and 1271 by the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem. Further work by the Mamluks in the late 13th century made it one of the best preserved Crusader castles. The Fortress of Saladin (Qal'at Salah El-Din), although partly in ruins, is an outstanding example of this type of fortification, both in terms of the quality of its construction and the preservation of its historical strata. It retains features from the 10th-century Byzantine period, Frankish modifications from the late 12th century, and fortifications added during the Ayyubid period (late 12th to mid-13th century).
San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano
The Historic Centre of San Marino and Mount Titano covers an area of 55 hectares and includes Mount Titano and the historic centre of the city, dating back to the founding of the Republic as a city-state in the 13th century. San Marino is listed as a testimony to the continuity of a free republic since the Middle Ages. The listed city centre includes defensive towers, walls, gates and fortresses, as well as the 19th-century neoclassical cathedral, 14th- and 16th-century monasteries, the 19th-century Palazzo Comunale and the 18th-century Teatro Titano. The property represents a historic centre that is still inhabited and has preserved all its institutional functions. Due to its location on top of Mount Titano, it has not been affected by the urban transformations that have taken place from the advent of the industrial age to the present day.
Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius
The Palace of Galerius in eastern Serbia is a fortified palace complex and monumental complex of the late Roman period, built by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. It was called Felix Romuliana, named after the emperor's mother. The site includes fortifications, a palace in the northwest of the complex, a basilica, a temple, a thermal bath, a monumental complex and a tetrapylon. The uniqueness of the complex lies in its intertwined monumental functions of ceremonial and religious architecture.
Konso Cultural Landscape
The Konso Cultural Landscape is an arid heritage site in the Konso Highlands of Ethiopia, consisting of stone-walled terraces and fortified settlements. It exemplifies a living cultural tradition that has adapted to an arid and hostile environment over 21 generations (over 400 years). The landscape demonstrates the shared values, social cohesion and engineering knowledge of its communities. The site also features anthropomorphic wooden statues – grouped to represent respected members of their communities and particularly heroic events – that are living witnesses to a funerary tradition that is in danger of disappearing. Stone monuments in the town express a complex system of marking the succession of generations of leaders.
Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley
The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and religious development of ancient Bakhtriya from the 1st to the 13th century AD, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara Buddhist art school. The area is home to numerous Buddhist monasteries and temples, as well as defensive structures from the Islamic period. The site also witnessed the destruction of two standing Buddha statues by the Taliban in March 2001, shocking the world.
Hill Forts of Rajasthan
Located in Rajasthan, this series of sites includes six magnificent forts at Chittorgarh, Gumbalgarh, Sawai Madhopur, Jhalawar, Jaipur and Jaisalmer. The forts vary in architectural style, some measuring up to 20 km in circumference, and bear witness to the power of the Rajput princely states that flourished in the region from the 8th to the 18th centuries. Within the defensive walls were major urban centres, palaces, trade centres and other buildings, including temples, which often predated the fortifications, within which a sophisticated courtly culture that supported learning, music and the arts developed. Some of the urban centres within the fortifications have survived, as have many of the site’s temples and other sacred buildings. The forts took advantage of the natural defences offered by the terrain: hills, deserts, rivers and dense forests. They also had extensive water-harvesting structures, most of which are still in use today.
Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market-Town of Bellinzona
The site of Bellinzona consists of a group of fortifications surrounding the Castelgrande Castle, which stands on a rocky peak overlooking the entire Ticino Valley. A series of defensive walls extending from the castle protected the ancient town and blocked access through the valley. A second castle (Montebello) was an integral part of the fortifications, while a third, independent castle (Sasso Corbaro) was built on an isolated rocky promontory southeast of the other fortifications.
Maulbronn Monastery Complex
Founded in 1147, the Cistercian Abbey of Maulbronn is considered the most complete and best-preserved medieval monastic complex north of the Alps. The main buildings of the abbey were built between the 12th and 16th centuries and are surrounded by defensive walls. The abbey's church is mainly in the Transitional Gothic style and had a major influence on the spread of Gothic architecture throughout much of Northern and Central Europe. Maulbronn's water management system with its complex network of drainage systems, irrigation canals and reservoirs is very remarkable.
Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania
These Transylvanian villages and their fortified churches vividly portray the cultural landscape of southern Transylvania. Founded by Transylvanian Saxons, these seven villages are characterized by a specific land use system, settlement patterns, and family farm organization that have been preserved since the late Middle Ages. The villages are dominated by fortified churches that display architectural styles from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower
Built on sites inhabited since the Paleolithic era, the walls of Baku reflect the heritage of Zoroastrian, Sassanian, Arab, Persian, Shirvan, Ottoman and Russian cultures. The Inner City (Icheri Sheher) retains much of its 12th-century defensive walls. The 12th-century Maiden's Tower (Giz Galasy) was built on earlier structures dating from the 7th-6th centuries BC, and the 15th-century Palace of the Shirvanshahs is one of the jewels of Azerbaijan's architecture.