13 new UNESCO sites but Germany's Elbe gets the boot

Thirteen new sites have been added to UNESCO's world heritage list. The additions were made in the past couple of days while officials held their yearly meetings to decide on new members of the list.

The World Heritage Committee recently held its 33rd session and added two natural sites and 11 cultural sites to its world heritage list. Those added include the rugged and awe-inspiring Dolomite mountain range in Italy, the first European settlement in the tropics, Cidade Velha in Cape Verde, and the sacred mountain of Sulamain in Kyrgyzstan. A full list can be found here. For Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan, it marked the first time they have been included on the world heritage list. For only the second time in UNESCO's history, a site was removed from the list. The German Elbe river was removed as a result of "the construction underway of a four-lane bridge in the heart of the cultural landscape," which meant that it "could no longer retain its status as a World Heritage site of outstanding universal value" UNESCO added three areas - Los Katios National Park (Colombia), Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia), and the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System (Belize) - onto its "Danger List". It also removed one site. After improvements in preservation efforts, UNESCO withdrew the Walled City of Baku (Azerbaijan) from the Danger List. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was consecrated in 1945 with a purpose to "contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture." In its yearly sessions, UNESCO recognizes areas and structures of natural and cultural significance for their universal value and adds them as world heritage sites. UNESCO also promotes nations to protect them and provides countries with technical expertise. UNESCO's world heritage list now includes 890 sites.