Lebanon - Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab)

"The Qadisha valley is one of the most important early Christian monastic settlements in the world. Its monasteries, many of which are of a great age, stand in dramatic positions in a rugged landscape. Nearby are the remains of the great forest of cedars of Lebanon, highly prized in antiquity for the construction of great religious buildings." 

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
The feeling of coolness and tranquility of the Cedars of Lebanon. Thanks again to Steve and Maick.

Postcard 2

The Cedars of Lebanon. Thanks to Steve and Maick.

Postcard 3
Aerial view of Bcharre, Lebanon - location of Cedars of God which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Nassib. Not sure why there is Lebanon stamps used but there a USA Texas postal cancellation.

 

Brazil - Sítio Roberto Burle Marx

"Situated west of Rio de Janeiro, the site embodies a successful project developed over more than 40 years by landscape architect and artist Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) to create a “living work of art” and a “landscape laboratory” using native plants and drawing on Modernist ideas. Began in 1949, the garden features the key characteristics that came to define Burle Marx’s landscape gardens and influenced the development of modern gardens internationally. The garden is characterized by sinuous forms, exuberant mass planting, architectural plant arrangements, dramatic colour contrasts, use of tropical plants, and the incorporation of elements of traditional folk culture. By the end of the 1960s, the site housed the most representative collection of Brazilian plants, alongside other rare tropical species. In the site, 3,500 cultivated species of tropical and subtropical flora grow in harmony with the native vegetation of the region, notably mangrove swamp, restinga (a distinct type of coastal tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest) and the Atlantic Forest. Sítio Roberto Burle Marx exhibits an ecological conception of form as a process, including social collaboration which is the basis for environmental and cultural preservation. It is the first modern tropical garden to be inscribed on the World Heritage List."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Sitio Roberto Burle Marx is a famous landscape in Rio de Janeiro that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Eliza of Brazil.

Brazil - Lençóis Maranhenses National Park

"The property is located in northeastern Brazil, on the east coast of Maranhão, in a transition zone between three Brazilian biomes: Cerrado, Caatinga and Amazon. More than half of its area consists of a white coastal dune field with temporary and permanent lagoons. Beyond its important role in biodiversity conservation, the park boasts globally significant aesthetic and geological/geomorphological values. Along an 80 km coastline, with beaches followed by plains, the prevailing winds shape the dunes into long chains of barchans, filled in the rainy season to create lagoons of various colours, shapes, sizes and depths. The property reveals its best scenery when the lagoons reach their maximum volume, creating rare beauty. The vast expanse of both stable and shifting dunes, the largest in South America, presents remarkable evidence of the evolutionary progression of coastal dunes throughout the Quaternary period."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Lencois Maranhenses National Park in Maranhao state in Northeastern Brazil. Thanks to Rute of Brazil.

Germany - Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey

"Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey are located along the Weser River on the outskirts of Höxter where they were erected between 822 and 885 A.D. in a largely preserved rural setting. The Westwork is the only standing structure that dates back to the Carolingian era, while the original imperial abbey complex is preserved as archaeological remains which are only partially excavated. The Westwork of Corvey uniquely illustrates one of the most important Carolingian architectural expressions. It is a genuine creation of this period, and its architectural articulation and decoration clearly illustrate the role played within the Frankish empire by imperial monasteries in securing territorial control, administration, as well as the propagation of Christianity and of the Carolingian cultural and political order throughout Europe."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage


Postcard 1
Aerial view of Weserbergland Kloster Corvey. Thanks to Anke of Germany.

Postcard 2

Postcard 3

The Carolingian Wall Painting of Corvey which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Dustin of Germany for this nice addition to my UNESCO WHS postcard collection.

Russia - Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea

 "The site contains 4,500 petroglyphs carved in the rocks during the Neolithic period dated 6 to 7 thousand years ago and located in the Republic of Karelia in the Russian Federation. It is one of the largest such sites in Europe with petroglyphs that document Neolithic culture in Fennoscandia. The serial property encompasses 33 sites in two component parts 300km apart: 22 petroglyph sites at Lake Onega in the District of Pudozhsky featuring a total of over 1,200 figures and 3,411 figures in 11 sites by the White Sea in the District of Belomorsky. The rock art figures at Lake Onega mostly represents birds, animals, half human and half animal figures as well as geometric shapes that may be symbols of the moon and the sun. The petroglyphs of the White Sea are mostly composed of carvings depicting hunting and sailing scenes including their related equipment as well as animal and human footprints. They show significant artistic qualities and testify to the creativity of the Stone Age. The petroglyphs are associated with sites including settlements and burial grounds."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Petroglyphs of the White Sea. Thanks to Zubov of Russia.

United Kingdom - The Flow Country

"The serial property, located in the Highland Region of Scotland, is considered the most outstanding example of an actively accumulating blanket bog landscape. This peatland ecosystem, which has been accumulating for the past 9,000 years, provides a diversity of habitats home to a distinct combination of bird species and displays a remarkable diversity of features not found anywhere else on Earth. Peatlands play an important role in storing carbon and the property’s ongoing peat-forming ecological processes continue to sequester carbon on a very large scale, representing a significant research and educational resource." 

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The Flow Country in Highland Region of Scotland, UK is a new UNESCO World Heritage inscribed in 2024. Thanks to Stella of Scotland, UK.

Ghana - Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions

"The remains of fortified trading-posts, erected between 1482 and 1786, can still be seen along the coast of Ghana between Keta and Beyin. They were links in the trade routes established by the Portuguese in many areas of the world during their era of great maritime exploration." 

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
Elmina Castle started as a Portuguese fort, later Dutch, then English trading center. It was a center for ivory, gold and later slaves. Thanks to James for sending this wonderful card from his travels in Ghana.

Postcard 2

Cape Coast Castle - the slave trade was administered through castles, forts and lodges all along the west and east coasts of Africa. Thanks to Leeli of Ghana.

Postcard 3
Cape Coast Castle, near Accra. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Ghana - Asante Traditional Buildings

"Near Kumasi, a group of traditional buildings are the last remaining testimony of the great Asante civilization, which reached its peak in the 18th century. The buildings include ten shrines/fetish houses (Abirim, Asawase, Asenemaso, Bodwease, Ejisu Besease, Adarko Jachie, Edwenase, Kentinkrono, Patakro and Saaman). Most are to the north-east of Kumasi, and Patakro, to the south.

Arranged around courtyards, the buildings are constructed of timber, bamboo and mud plaster and originally had thatched roofs. The unique decorative bas-reliefs that adorn the walls are bold and depict a wide variety of motifs. Common forms include spiral and arabesque details with representations of animals, birds and plants, linked to traditional “Adinkra” symbols. As with other traditional art forms of the Asante, these designs are not merely ornamental, they also have symbolic meanings, associated with the ideas and beliefs of the Asante people, and have been handed down from generation to generation...."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
Multi-view of traditional buildings of Ghana with the top right corner picture showing Asante Traditional Buildings. Thanks to Mike of Netherlands for arrangement for mailing from Ghana.

Postcard 2A

Asante Traditional Buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Karolyn of USA. By mistake, I received two same postcards with different stamps used - double delight.

Postcard 2B

Azerbaijan - Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route

"This cultural landscape is comprised of the high-mountain Khinalig village in northern Azerbaijan, high-altitude summer pastures and agricultural terraces in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, winter pastures in the lowland plains in central Azerbaijan, and the connecting 200-kilometre-long seasonal transhumance route called Köç Yolu (“Migration Route”). The village of Khinalig is home to the semi-nomadic Khinalig people, whose culture and lifestyle are defined by the seasonal migration between summer and winter pastures, and who retain the ancient way of long-distance vertical transhumance. The organically evolved network including ancient routes, temporary pastures and camping sites, mausoleums, and mosques illustrates a sustainable eco-social system adapted to extreme environmental conditions."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site Tentative List

Khynalyq Village and landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Azerbaijan. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Rwanda - Memorial sites of the Genocide: Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero

 Between April and July 1994, an estimated one million people were killed across Rwanda by armed militias called Interahamwe that targeted Tutsi, but also executed moderate Hutu and Twa people. The victims of the genocide are commemorated in this serial property composed of four memorial sites. Two of the component parts were scenes of massacres: a Catholic church built in the hill of Nyamata in 1980, and a technical school built in the hill of Murambi in 1990. The hill of Gisozi in Kigali City hosts the Kigali Genocide Memorial built in 1999, where more than 250,000 victims have been buried, while the hill of Bisesero in the Western Province hosts a memorial built in 1998, to remember the fight of those who resisted their perpetrators for over two months before being exterminated.

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Nyamata Church Genoricide Memorial in Rwanda - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Postcard was missent to India and damaged by water - but luckily it arrived. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Rwanda - Nyungwe National Park

"This serial property represents an important area for rainforest conservation in Central Africa. The property is home to intact forests and peat bogs, moors, thickets and grasslands, providing habitats to a highly diverse flora and fauna. The Park also contains the most significant natural habitats for a number of species found nowhere else in the world, including the globally threatened Eastern Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis ssp. kandti) and the Critically Endangered Hills Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hillorum). There are also 12 mammal and seven bird species that are globally threatened, and with 317 species of birds recorded, Nyungwe National Park is one of the most important sites for bird conservation in Africa."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Postcard 1
Nyungwe Forest has more than 200 species of trees and the forest floor is characterized by moss and fungi growths. Mailed on February 16, 2013 and arrived in Penang island on March 20, 2013. Thanks to Sionnan of Canada who visited Rwanda.

Postcard 2
Waterfalls at Nyungwe National Park of Rwanda - the largest montane forest and home of chimpanzees. Thanks to Michael of South Africa who visiting Rwanda.

Postcard 3
Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This postcard was missent to India and water damaged during its postal journey - fortunately it arrived. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Denmark - Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea

"Denmark - Greenland Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
Assivissuit - Nipisat, Greenland. Thanks to Chen of China for mailing this from China. Received in October 2018.

Postcard 2
Aasivissuit - Nipista is the Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea - a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.