UNESCO adds 42 treasures to World Heritage List, including another in a Midwest state

The World Heritage List has designated 42 global treasures as the latest UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Since its founding in 1972, the World Heritage Convention has inscribed sites of “outstanding universal value,” and after the 45th session this month, the total now stands at 1,199,  the world body said in a statement Monday.

The inclusion of Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks − Ohio’s first World Heritage site and the 25th in the United States − marks the first addition of a cultural site to the World Heritage List since the U.S. rejoined UNESCO this year, according to the Newark Advocate, part of USA TODAY Network.

Only countries that sign the convention creating the World Heritage Committee and list can nominate sites, and former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2017, citing “anti-Israel bias” due to UNESCO’s decision to recognize Palestine. Funding to the organization was cut off under the Obama administration after it voted to include Palestine as a member in 2011, so Trump’s decision was mostly symbolic, USA TODAY reported.

What does UNESCO stand for?

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

What are UNESCO World Heritage sites?

UNESCO seeks to conserve sites by encouraging "the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity," according to its website. "World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located."

UNESCO sites in the United States

In chronological order beginning in 1978 and through 2023, here are the 25 sites in the U.S. inscribed on the World Heritage List.

• Mesa Verde National Park

• Yellowstone National Park

• Everglades National Park

• Grand Canyon National Park

• Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek

• Independence Hall

• Redwood National and State Parks

• Mammoth Cave National Park

• Olympic National Park

• Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

• La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park

• Statue of Liberty

• Yosemite National Park

• Chaco Culture

• Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

• Taos Pueblo

• Carlsbad Caverns National Park

• Waterton Glacier International Peace Park

• Papahānaumokuākea

• Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point

• San Antonio Missions

• The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright

• Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Newly added cultural and natural wonders to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023:

UNESCO World Heritage sites in Asia

• Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er in China 

• Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Age Sites in Mongolia

• Gaya Tumuli in Republic of Korea

• Ancient city of Gordion in Turkey

• Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia in Turkey

• Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar in Cambodia

• Santiniketan in India

• Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

• Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas in India

• The Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta and its Historic Landmarks in Indonesia

• The Persian Caravanserai in Iran

• (Natural) Cold Winter Deserts of Turan in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

• (Natural) Tugay forests of the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve in Tajikistan

• (Natural) ‘Uruq Bani Ma’arid in Saudi Arabia

• Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan in State of Palestine

• The Ancient Town of Si Thep and its Associated Dvaravati Monuments in Thailand

UNESCO World Heritage sites in Europe

• Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt in Germany 

• Modernist Kaunas: Architecture of Optimism, 1919-1939 in Lithuania

• Eisinga Planetarium in Netherlands

• Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front) in France

• The Maison Carrée of Nîmes in France

• (Natural) Volcanoes and Forests of Mount Pelée and the Pitons of Northern Martinique in France

• Old town of Kuldīga in Latvia

• Prehistoric Sites of Talayotic Menorca in Spain

• Viking-Age Ring Fortresses in Denmark

• Astronomical Observatories of Kazan Federal University in Russian Federation

• (Natural) Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Apennines in Italy

• Zagori Cultural Landscape in Greece

• Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops in Czechia

• Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route in Azerbaijan (boundary of Eastern Europe and West Asia)

UNESCO World Heritage sites in Africa

• The Gedeo Cultural Landscape in Ethiopia 

• (Natural) Bale Mountains National Park in Ethiopia 

• Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern in an island territory in Tunisia

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

• (Natural) Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda

• (Natural) Forest Massif of Odzala-Kokoua in Congo

UNESCO World Heritage sites in North America

• Tr’ondëk-Klondike in Canada

• (Natural) Anticosti in Canada 

• Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in the U.S.

UNESCO World Heritage sites in South America

• National Archaeological Park Tak’alik Ab’aj in Guatemala

• ESMA Museum and Site of Memory – Former Clandestine Center of Detention, Torture and Extermination in Argentina

• Jodensavanne Archaeological Site: Jodensavanne Settlement and Cassipora Creek Cemetery in Suriname

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UNESCO adds 42 sites to World Heritage List, including another in US