07/27/2021 4:57 PM
Clarín.com
International
Updated 07/27/2021 4:57 PM
UNESCO through the World Heritage Committee today inscribed fourteen new sites, five of them Latin American from Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Mexico.
The first three have been pending since 2020, when UNESCO was forced to cancel its annual appointment due to global health conditions derived from the
COVID
pandemic
.
While the applications from Chile and Mexico were presented this year and achieved approval.
What proposals were approved by UNESCO as World Heritage
Facade of a chapel at the Burle Marx Site in Brazil, a new Unesco World Heritage Site.
Photo / EFE
The approved proposals are the
Roberto Burle Marx Site tropical garden
(Brazil),
the Chankillo solar observatory
(Peru),
the church of Estación Atlántida
(Uruguay),
the Chinchorro culture sites
(Chile)
and the monastery and cathedral of Nuestra Lady of the Assumption of Tlaxcala
(Mexico).
The decisions assume that
Mexico now has 36 entries
on the World Heritage List;
Brazil, 23;
Peru, 13;
Chile, 7, and Uruguay, 3.
Chankillo: Peruvian heritage in UNESCO
An area view of the Chankillo observatory, in Peru.
Photo / AFP
Peru featured
the archaeological complex of Chankillo
where, according to the researchers,
direct astronomical observations
were carried out
between 500 and 200 BC
, following the annual movement of the sun to regulate religious festivals and other seasonal events.
Located near the coast, about 365 kilometers north of Lima
, the observatory is distributed in three sectors that cover
about four square kilometers
in which there are 13 towers, a circular temple and a plaza, built with earth and mud.
The Peruvian authorities stressed that it is "unique worldwide" because, unlike other old observatories,
Chankillo covered the entire annual solar cycle.
Chile and the Chinchorro culture as UNESCO heritage
Chinchorro.
The ancient civilization that occupied the current Chilean coast.
Photo / AFP
Even older is the Chilean proposal, focused on
the settlements and artificial mummification of the Chinchorro culture
on the coastal edges of the Arica and Parinacota regions, in the north of the country.
The Chinchorro groups were originally hunters who,
around 7,000 BC
, settled on the coast after the climatic changes derived from the last glaciations.
According to the Chilean authorities,
the Chinchorro culture developed mummification 3,000 years earlier than in Egypt
, with a process that involved skinning the body, extracting the organs, drying it with embers and filling it with earth, wool, feathers, plants or clay.
Mexico and the Franciscan ensemble of Tlaxcala chosen by UNESCO
The cathedral of Tlaxcala in Mexico.
Photo / EFE
They also voted in favor of the inclusion in the
World Heritage of the Franciscan complex of Tlaxcala
, an extension of the inscription of the first monasteries of the 16th century on the slopes of Popocatépetl, added to the list in 1994.
The Franciscan convent complex was built between 1537 and 1540
after the alliance between the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans -key to defeat the Mexica empire-, which marked 500 years in 2019.
Mexican authorities highlight the "incalculable artistic value
" of its Mudejar-style wooden coffered ceiling, considered the most important in the country.
Brazil and Uruguay add their proposals to UNESCO
Meanwhile, the candidacies of
Uruguay and Brazil are much more current
, both dating from the 20th century.
Atlántida Station Church.
Uruguay added a site as a UNESCO heritage site,
The church of Estación Atlántida
, a municipality located in the department of Canelones, on the southern coast of Uruguay,
was built between 1958 and 1960
by the engineer Eladio Dieste (1917-2000).
Dieste, known worldwide for developing the system of "armed ceramics"
and the double curvature vaults, assured that the church of Atlántida was a work that "changed his life."
Shared by the Bishopric of Canelones and the Congregation of Rosarinas Sisters,
the church is an example of Dieste's work
for the optimization of resources and stands out for the use of exposed brick.
For its part,
the Sitio Roberto Burle Marx
is, according to
the Ministry of Tourism of
Brazil
, "the legacy of the landscape architect who created the concept of the modern tropical garden."
Located in the western area of Rio de Janeiro, it covers about 407,000
square
meters
of forest area and has a collection of more than 3,500 species of tropical and subtropical plants.
The gardens at the Burle Marx Site that add to the UNESCO heritage.
Photo / EFE
Apart from gardens and nurseries, there are also six lakes and seven buildings on the site, which receives about 30,000 annual visitors and where the landscaper himself lived (1909-1994) between 1973 until his death.
The new proposals to be evaluated by UNESCO
On Wednesday 28
, proposals from Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and Gabon,
as well as a joint one from Bosnia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Switzerland
are scheduled to be resolved.
.
The forty-fourth session of the World Heritage Committee became
an extended version in which not only the nominations from the current year are evaluated
but also those that could not be judged last year.
The sessions are based in the southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou
, but with the pandemic still active they are mostly being held virtually.
Look also
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The Chinchorro mummies, an archaeological treasure of 6 thousand years that are now a World Heritage Site