The Lake District has been named as a World Heritage Site, Unesco has announced.

The region, in north-west England, joins sites including the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and Stonehenge on the prestigious list.

The culture organisation tweeted: “Just inscribed as @UNESCO #WorldHeritage Site: The English Lake District.”

Lord Clark of Windermere, who chaired the Lake District’s bid, said the decision to recognise the region’s culture, art and literature, as well as its landscape, was “momentous”.

He said: “It is this exceptional blend which makes our Lake District so spectacularly unique and we are delighted Unesco has agreed.

“A great many people have come together to make this happen and we believe the decision will have long and lasting benefits for the spectacular Lake District landscape, the 18 million visitors we welcome every year and for the people who call the National Park their home.”

A Unesco committee in Krakow, Poland, backed the national park, in Cumbria and home to England’s highest mountain Scafell Pike, which was among 33 nominations of sites all over the world.

The bid was formally entered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Historic England and was the UK’s only submission in 2016.

John Glen, minister for arts, heritage and tourism, said: “The Lake District is one of the UK’s most stunning and ancient landscapes and I am thrilled it has been granted World Heritage Site status.

“It is a unique part of the world that combines a vibrant farming community with thousands of archaeological sites and structures that give us an amazing glimpse into our past.

“This decision will undoubtedly elevate the position of the Lake District internationally, boosting tourism and benefiting local communities and businesses.”

The region is known for its soaring fells as much as its expansive lakes, including England’s longest, Windermere, and deepest, Wastwater.

The Lakes also boasts sites of historical importance such as King Arthur’s Round Table, said by English Heritage to be a neolithic earthwork henge believed to be the legendary monarch’s jousting arena.

And it was an inspiration for some of the country’s most beloved writers including Beatrix Potter, who owned Hill Top Farm, and poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge and John Ruskin.

The UK now has 31 World Heritage Sites including the city of Bath, the Tower of London, Canterbury Cathedral and the Giant’s Causeway.

Tim Farron MP, whose Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency is in south Cumbria, said: “This is fantastic news for our area, and for the local tourist economy.

“This well-deserved status is a formal recognition of the outstanding natural beauty of the Lake District, and will help to further promote our area as the UK’s leading rural tourist destination.

“However, it is vital that the Lake District remains a viable place for local people to live.

“This decision is about protecting and promoting the natural and cultural heritage of our area, and must not be used as an excuse to freeze in aspic our vibrant rural communities.

“The Lake District must be a place where local people can afford to live, raise a family and find work so that rural communities can thrive.” </s> The region, in north-west England, joins sites including the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and Machu Picchu on the prestigious list. Thirty other UK landmarks have World Heritage status, including Stonehenge, the Palace of Westminster and the Tower of London. Lord Clark of Windermere, who chaired the Lake District's bid, said the decision to recognise the region was "momentous".

He said: "Joining the UNESCO family, both in the UK and globally, is a huge opportunity for the Lake District National Park. "We believe this designation will have long lasting benefits for everyone who visits, lives and works in this special place." And Richard Leafe, the national park's chief executive, tweeted: "We got it. Lake District has World Heritage Status! 20 years in the making."

UNESCO official Helen Maclagan described the Lakes as a "priceless and irreplaceable asset not only to the UK but to humanity as a whole". She added: "I am delighted that the rich cultural landscape of the Lake District is now recognised on the world stage. "We look forward to working with the Lake District Partnership and continuing our work with World Heritage Sites in the UK to ensure that the full benefits of World Heritage Site status are realised." </s> The United Nations cultural body UNESCO has voted to add 14 new sites to its World Heritage list on Saturday, including the Indian "Pink City" of Jaipur, the ruins of Liangzhu city in China and the Plain of Jars located in central Laos.

The fortified commercial city Jaipur was founded in the 18th century by Sawai Jai Singh II. It is built according to a grid plan and the Old City is painted uniformly in a distinctive terracotta hue.

Currently there are more than 1,000 cultural and natural sites from 167 countries on the World Heritage list.

UNESCO also agreed in its morning session to add Bahrain's Dilmun burial mounds, the Budj Bim wetland aquaculture landscape formed by Australia's aboriginal Gunditjmara nation, the Mozu-Furuichi mounded tombs of Japan and the Dutch-colonial era Ombilin coal mining heritage site in Indonesian Sumatra.

The burial grounds include "21 archaeological sites in the western part of the island" built between 2050 and 1750 BC, according to the global body.

"Six of these sites are burial mound fields consisting of a few dozen to several thousand tumuli," it said in a statement.

In all there were some 11,774 burial mounds, UNESCO said, while another 15 sites include 17 royal mounds built as two-storeyed towers.

The tombs were among a handful of nominations made Saturday as the World Heritage Committee meets in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku for its 43rd session.

UNESCO said the burial mounds were evidence of the early Dilmun civilization, "during which Bahrain became a trade hub, whose prosperity enabled the inhabitants to develop an elaborate burial tradition applicable to the entire population".

They are the third site in Bahrain to be designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Head of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, said the tombs were "living proof of Bahrain's distinguished cultural heritage", according to the kingdom's official BNA news agency.

Bahrain's other two UNESCO sites are the Bahrain Citadel, listed in 2005, and a major pearling site in the city of Muharraq included in 2012.

Later on Saturday, the body recognized the Ore Mountains, which join the German region of Saxony with the Czech area of Bohemia, as a World Heritage site, along with the Roman-built water management system of the Bavarian city Augsburg and Poland's Krzemionki prehistoric flint mines.

Saxony premier Michael Kretschmer gave his thanks for the recognition, labeling the project an example for international cooperation. The Ore Mountains, known as the Erzgebirge in German and Krusnohori in Czech, applied for the tile with 17 elements on the German side and 5 on the Czech side.

Canada also had the stone carvings and paintings of the Blackfoot (Siksikaiiitsitapi) people inscribed onto UNESCO's list on Saturday afternoon, while South Korea gained the neo-Confucian Seowon academies. Also added was Myanmar's Bagan Buddhist complex, and the Czech Kladruby nad Labem carriage horse breeding and training area.

This year, the UN Committee is meeting in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, and will vote on a total of 35 applications. The gathering will last until 10 July.

On Friday, five sites including the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon, were also added to the list. </s> That challenge is about to get tougher.

UNESCO's huge list of World Heritage properties has grown even longer this month, with the global body voting to add 21 sites during the 41st annual World Heritage Committee session in Krakow, Poland.

That brings the total of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to 1,073.

Northwest England's mountainous Lake District was among the new sites added to the list, the UK's first national park to become a World Heritage property.

"The combined work of nature and human activity has produced a harmonious landscape in which the mountains are mirrored in the lakes," says UNESCO's statement announcing the inscription.

India's walled city of Ahmedabad, founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah in the 15th century, was also added to the list, becoming the country's first city to get a UNESCO nod.

Located on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati river, it "presents a rich architectural heritage from the sultanate period, notably the Bhadra citadel, the walls and gates of the Fort city and numerous mosques and tombs as well as important Hindu and Jain temples of later periods," says UNESCO's description of the city.

Two South America properties were added to the list, including Brazil's Valongo Wharf, an archeological site.

Located in central Rio de Janeiro, the wharf encompasses the entire Jornal do Comércio Square and was built to receive enslaved Africans who began landing the South American continent from 1811.

"It is the most important physical trace of the arrival of African slaves on the American continent," says UNESCO.

Israel accused UNESCO of making a politically motivated move, part of what it says is an attempt to deny the Jewish character and heritage of certain key sites in the Holy Land.

Meanwhile, UNESCO's decision to approve China's nomination of Hoh Xil, part of the high-altitude Tibetan plateau in Qinghai Province, has also drawn protests.

The International Campaign for Tibet says the nomination poses a threat to Tibetan nomads and their way of life.

Here's this year's list of newly inscribed sites, several of which can be viewed in the above gallery:

Germany: Caves and ice age art in the Swabian Jura

Angola: Mbanza Kongo, political and spiritual capital of the Kingdom of Kongo

The United Nations' World Heritage Committee, made up of representatives from 21 countries, meets annually to vote natural, cultural and sites of mixed significance around the world to its prestigious preservation list, which includes places of "outstanding universal value."

The inscribed sites must meet at least one of 10 criteria such as "representing a masterpiece of human creative genius," containing "exceptional natural beauty" or being an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement.

UNESCO has been adding sites to the World Heritage List since 1978.

In the travel world, being able to add the words "UNESCO World Heritage Site" to destination marketing materials is the equivalent of striking tourism gold, bringing fame and cultural cachet as well as resources for sites in need of restoration and protection.

As a result, nations often spend years developing pitches for inclusion on the list and must convince the UNESCO committee they will protect their sites and support them financially. </s> The Lake District has joined the likes of the Taj Mahal in India and Machu Picchu in Peru after being awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.

What does this mean and are there any sites in the North East?

In a nutshell, it is a landmark or area which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

How are these sites chosen and what does it mean to them?

Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some other form of significance, and they are legally protected by international treaties.

UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the collective interests of humanity.

How does the process begin?

A site must meet one of the selection criteria produced by UNESCO. In the UK’s case, the government compiles a tentative list of sites to be considered for consideration.

They are then evaluated by either ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites) for cultural sites and / or IUCN (World Conservation Union) for natural sites.

The sites are then presented to the World Heritage Committee who make the final decision.

How many sites are there around the world?

As of July 2017, 1053 sites are listed: 815 cultural, 203 natural, and 35 mixed properties, in 165 states.

Which country in the world has the most sites?

Italy is the home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 53 sites, followed by China (52), Spain (45), France (42), Germany (41), India (35), and Mexico (34).

And where does the UK come in the list?

Next after Mexico as it’s listed as United Kingdom and British Overseas Territories and now has 31.

How many of those are from this region?

We have two. Durham Cathedral, which was added to the list in 1986 and Hadrian’s Wall which was first included in 1987.

It was chosen as it was seen as the “largest and finest” example of Norman architecture in England and vaulting of the cathedral was part of the advent of Gothic architecture.

It helped that the cathedral houses relics of St Cuthbert and Bede.

And what about Hadrian’s Wall?

For its part as the frontier of the Roman empire - or the ‘Roman Limes’. The Roman Limes represents the border line of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent in the 2nd century AD. It stretched over 5,000km from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.

Have any other sites been considered from this region?

Yes, there was a joint Wearmouth-Jarrow bid back in 2011.

The bid centred on the monastery of St Peter’s Church in Monkwearmouth and St Paul’s Church in Jarrow.

They were founded in the seventh century AD as a twin monastery intended, by its creator Benedict Biscop, to function as one organisation.

The two sites are some 14.2 km (8.8 miles) apart, on the south bank of the River Tyne and the north bank of the River Wear in north-east England.

Under Benedict Biscop’s inspirational leadership and that of his assistant and successor Ceolfrith, Wearmouth-Jarrow went on to become a wonder of its time: a powerhouse of intellectual endeavour.

The bid for World Heritage status was “shelved” in 2012 after an evaluation by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). </s> The United Nations’ education, science and culture branch has designated nearly two dozen new locations as official World Heritage Sites in recent days, thus ensuring international efforts will go toward their preservation.

UNESCO ― the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ― designated eleven new sites on Sunday and may continue to do so throughout next week until the annual World Heritage Committee meeting ends on July 12.

Receiving World Heritage Site status ensures that the UN will work to preserve these sites and combat any human-driven or natural threats they may face.

They join a list of more than a thousand World Heritage Sites, selected based on their reflection of human ingenuity; testimony to culture, history or science; or manifestation of nature’s beauty or power, among other criteria.

Sunday’s new additions include nods to human creations and perseverance with the historic Iranian city of Yazd, which “bears living testimony to the use of limited resources for survival in the desert,” UNESCO said; the water recycling system at the Tarnowskie Góry lead, silver and zinc mine in Southern Poland; and the 16th and 17th century Venetian works of defense, a series of sea fortifications that span between Italy, Croatia and Montenegro.

They also include sites rich with cultural history, including Japan’s island of Okinoshima, an ancient ritual spot with well-preserved archaeological sites; Greenland’s Kujataa, a sub-arctic farming landscape that bears witness to the successful cohabitation of Norse hunter-gatherers and Inuit farming communities; and Taputapuātea, a site on the Polynesian island Ra’iatea thought to be the last part of the globe settled by humans.

Two sites are testimonies to art history, including caves in southern Germany that contain some of the oldest known art depicting human or animal figures, dating back 43,000 years and helping “shed light on the origins of human artistic development,” UNESCO said. Also included is the Assumption Cathedral in Sviyazhsk, Russia, where the frescoes “are among the rarest examples of Eastern Orthodox mural paintings.” </s> The World Heritage Committee meeting in Krakow since 2 July today inscribed cultural sites in Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Poland, and the Russian Federation, along with one that spans Croatia, Italy and Montenegro.

The sites added, in order of inscription are:

Historic City of Yazd (Islamic Republic of Iran)

The City of Yazd is located in the middle of the Iranian plateau, 270 kilomtres southeast of Isfahan, close to the Spice and Silk Roads. It bears living testimony to the use of limited resources for survival in the desert. Water is supplied to the city through a qanat system developed to draw underground water. The earthen architecture of Yazd has escaped the modernization that destroyed many traditional earthen towns, retaining its traditional districts, the qanat system, traditional houses, bazars, hammams, mosques, synagogues, Zoroastrian temples and the historic garden of Dolat-abad.

Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata (Japan)

Located 60 km off the western coast of Kyushu island, the island of Okinoshima is an exceptional example of the tradition of worship of a sacred island. The archaeological sites that have been preserved on the Island are virtually intact, and provide a chronological record of how the rituals performed there changed from the 4th to the 9th centuries CE. In these rituals, votive objects were deposited as offerings at different sites on the Island. Many of them are of exquisite workmanship and had been brought from overseas, providing evidence of intense exchanges between the Japanese archipelago, the Korean Peninsula and the Asian continent. Integrated within the Grand Shrine of Munakata, the island of Okinoshima is considered sacred to this day.

Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar (Croatia, Italy, Montenegro)

This property consists of 15 components of defence works in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, spanning more than 1,000 kilometres between the Lombard region of Italy and the eastern Adriatic Coast. The fortifications throughout the Stato da Terra protected the Republic of Venice from other European powers to the northwest and those of the Stato da Mar protected the sea routes and ports in the Adriatic Sea to the Levant. They were necessary to support the expansion and authority of the Serenissima. The introduction of gunpowder led to significant shifts in military techniques and architecture that are reflected in the design of so-called alla modernaI bastioned, fortifications, which were to spread throughout Europe.

Kujataa Greenland : Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap (Denmark)

Kujataa is a sub-arctic farming landscape located in the southern region of Greenland. It bears witness to the cultural histories of the Norse hunters-gatherers who started arriving from Iceland in the 10th century and of the Norse farmers, Inuit hunters and Inuit farming communities that developed from the end of the 18th century. Despite their differences, the two cultures, European Norse and Inuit, created a cultural landscape based on farming, grazing and marine mammal hunting The landscape represents the earliest introduction of farming to the Arctic, and the Norse expansion of settlement beyond Europe.

Taputapuātea (France)

Taputapuātea on Ra’iatea Island is at the centre of the “Polynesian Triangle,” a vast portion of the Pacific Ocean, dotted with islands, and the last part of the globe to be settled by humans. The property includes two forested valleys, a portion of lagoon and coral reef and a strip of open ocean. At the heart of the property is the Taputapuātea marae complex, a political, ceremonial and funerary centre. It is characterized by a paved courtyard with a large standing stone at its centre. Widespread in Polynesia, the marae were places where the world of the living intersects the world of the ancestors. Taputapuātea is an exceptional testimony to 1,000 years of mā'ohi civilization.

Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura (Germany)

Modern humans first arrived in Europe 43,000 years ago during the last ice age. One of the areas where they took up residence was the Swabian Jura in southern Germany. Excavated from the 1860s, six caves have revealed items dating from 43,000 to 33,000 years ago. Among them are carved figurines of animals (including cave lions, mammoths, horses and cattle), musical instruments and items of personal adornment. Other figurines depict creatures that are half animal, half human and there is one statuette of a female form. These archaeological sites feature some of the oldest figurative art worldwide and help shed light on the origins of human artistic development.

Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System (Poland)

Located in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland, one of the main mining areas of central Europe, the site includes the entire underground mine with adits, shafts, galleries and water management system. Most of the site is situated underground while the surface mining topography features the remains of the 19th century steam water pumping station, which testifies to continuous efforts over three centuries to drain the underground extraction zone. It has made it possible to use undesirable water from the mines to supply towns and industry. Tarnowskie Góry represents a significant contribution to the global production of lead and zinc.

Assumption Cathedral and Monastery of the town-island of Sviyazhsk (Russian Federation)

The Assumption Cathedral is located in the town-island of Sviyazhsk and is part of the monastery of the same name. Situated at the confluence of the Volga, the Sviyaga and the Shchuka rivers, at the crossroads of the Silk and Volga routes, Sviyazhsk was founded by Ivan the Terrible in 1551. It was from this outpost that he initiated the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. The Assumption Monastery illustrates in its location and architectural composition the political and missionary programme developed by Tsar Ivan IV to extend the Moscow state. The cathedral’s frescoes are among the rarest examples of Eastern Orthodox mural paintings.

The 41st session of the World Heritage Committee (9-12 July), chaired by Jacek Purchla, founder and director of the International Cultural Centre in Kraków, will continue inscribing sites on the World Heritage List this afternoon.

Media

Lucía Iglesias Kuntz,

UNESCO,

l.iglesias@unesco.org,

+33 (0) 6 80 24 07 29 or +48 574 645 560.

Agnès Bardon,

UNESCO,

a.bardon@unesco.org,

+33 (0) 6 80 24 13 56 or +48 574 645 559

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#WorldHeritage </s> BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq on Friday celebrated the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's decision to name the historic city of Babylon a World Heritage Site in a vote held in Azerbaijan's capital, years after Baghdad began campaigning for the site to be added to the list.

The city on the Euphrates River is about 85 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad and once was a main tourist attraction before Iraq suffered one war after another in the past four decades.

The 4,300-year-old Babylon -- now mainly an archaeological ruin and two important museums -- is where dynasties have risen and fallen since the earliest days of settled human civilization.

King Hammurabi wrote his famous code of laws in Babylon, while Nebuchadnezzar sent his vast army from the city to Jerusalem to put down an uprising and bring the Jews back as slaves.

Some say Alexander the Great, who led his army out of Macedonia to conquer most of the known world, died here in 332 B.C.

Dozens of Iraqis waving their national flag gathered at the Ishtar Gate at the site celebrating their city's new international status.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi described the vote as "another victory for the Iraq of civilizations that was and will always be a lighthouse to the world."

President Barham Saleh tweeted that after Babylon, more ancient sites will be added to the list through which "Iraq will restore that status that it deserves."

Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi and Minister of Culture Abdul-Amir al-Hamadani congratulated the Iraqi people on the announcement.

The vote came years after the Islamic State group damaged another Iraq World Heritage site in the country's north, the ancient city of Hatra. The extremists also destroyed other sites in Iraq, including Nimrud where giant winged bulls that once stood sentry at the nearly 3,000-year-old palace were hacked to pieces.

Along with Babylon and Hatra, Iraq has three other sites of World Heritage, the archaeological city of Samarra in central Iraq, Ashur in the north and the citadel of the northern city of Erbil.

UNESCO said in its statement that Babylon's "remains, outer and inner-city walls, gates, palaces and temples, are a unique testimony to one of the most influential empires of the ancient world."

"The city's association with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world_the Hanging Gardens_has also inspired artistic, popular and religious culture on a global scale," UNESCO said.

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut. </s> The ancient city of Babylon, first referenced in a clay tablet from the 23rd century B.C., was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Friday, after a vote that followed decades of lobbying by Iraq, Reuters reported on Saturday.

The vote at a meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, World Heritage Committee held in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, made the ancient Mesopotamian city on the Euphrates River the sixth world heritage site within the borders of a country known as a cradle of civilisation.

Iraqi President Barham Salih said the city, now an archaeological ruin, was returned to its "rightful place" in history after years of neglect by previous leaders.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi also welcomed the news. "Mesopotamia is truly the pillar of humanity's memory and the cradle of civilization in recorded history," he said.

The Iraq government said it would allocate funds to maintain and boost conservation efforts.

Babylon, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, was once the centre of a sprawling empire, renowned for its towers and mudbrick temples. Its hanging gardens were one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, commissioned by King Nebuchadnezzar II.

Visitors can stroll through the remnants of the brick and clay structures, which stretch across 10 square kilometres, and see the famed Lion of Babylon statue, as well as large portions of the original Ishtar Gate.

Excavations of what was once the largest city in the world, began in the early 19th century by European archaeologists, who removed many artefacts. In the 1970s, under President Saddam Hussein's restoration project, the southern palace's walls and arches were shoddily rebuilt on top of the existing ruins, causing widespread damage.

This was exacerbated during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, when US and Polish troops stationed nearby built their military base on top of the Babylonian ruins. Many inscriptions written by soldiers can still be seen on the ancient bricks.

The site is in dire need of conservation. Unlike three other World Heritage sites in Iraq, UNESCO did not designate Babylon as one in "in danger" after objections from the Iraqi delegation.

Iraq is replete with thousands of archaeological sites, many of which were heavily damaged or pillaged by Daesh during its barbaric three-year-rule that ended in 2017.

The other five World Heritage Sites are the southern marshlands, Hatra, Samarra, Ashur and the citadel in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region.
UNESCO declares eight new sites as world heritage sites; including Lake District in North West England and Iran's Historic City of Yazd.