A Roman road, sand dunes and gold mines: These are the 24 new UNESCO World Heritage Sites for 2024

Last month, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) named the new cultural and natural properties inscribed on its list of World Heritage Sites. 

Properties on the list are considered to be of outstanding universal value and benefit from the highest level of heritage protection in the world.

There are now 1,223 World Heritage Sites around the globe. 

The 2024 additions include an ancient Roman road in Italy and sand dunes in Brazil. Keep reading for the full list of new World Heritage Sites. 

China

The Central Axis is a complex running through the centre of Beijing first established in 1271, comprising former imperial palaces and gardens, sacrificial structures, and ceremonial and public buildings.

“The location, layout, urban pattern, roads and design showcase the ideal capital city as prescribed in the Kaogongji, an ancient text known as the Book of Diverse Crafts,” UNESCO says. 

Romania

The monumental ensemble of Târgu Jiu was designed in 1937-1938 by Constantin Brâncuși, a groundbreaking pioneer of modernism, to honour those who gave their lives defending the city during World War I. 

“The remarkable fusion of abstract sculpture, landscape architecture, engineering, and urban planning conceived by Constantin Brâncuși goes far beyond the local wartime episode to offer an original vision of the human condition,” according to UNESCO. 

Russian Federation

Beginning in the 12th century following Slavic colonisation, the cultural landscape of Kenozero Lake comprises rural settlements of vernacular wooden structures and “reflects the communal management of agriculture and nature that developed when the indigenous Finno-Ugric forest culture merged with the traditional Slavic field culture.” 

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