Page 8 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

6 INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Ancient Greek and Roman travelers, whose idea of enjoyment
was probably little different from our own, had few sights
to visit. It was therefore not difficult for Greek writers to list
the seven best and call them the "wonders of the world."
Civilizations have come a long way since then, the world
has shrunk with high-speed travel, and there has been no
let-up in the desire to build. These days, it would be
hard to pin point the seven most wondrous buildings
in the world, but here are 103 sights that should
not be missed.

<St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow,
crowned with colorful domes

CREATED for people of vision and flair to glorify are like palimpsests, written over again a nd again. In
themselves, their gods, and their power, these Europe, a single building can have within it the marks
sights are I andm arks that tell us about the past, where of half a dozen cultures dating back more than 2,000
we have come from, and what we are capable of years. Also, the use of a building can change, from
achieving. Each one needs close inspection to appre- castle to palace, church to fort, and many flouris h
ciate its setting, structure, style, and ornament. Palaces, today as museums.
castles, religious houses, and places of entertainment
ha ve been handed to artists and artisans to embellish. UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Around and within these walls, masons, carpenters, The Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt is the only surviving
wood carvers, ceramidsts, sruptors, glassmakers, wonder of the andent world. In 1979, it was inscribed
painters, metalworkers, cabinet makers, embroiderers, as a World Heritage Site by the l.klited Nations
tapestJy makers, and landscape gardeners have all Education~, Sdentific, and Cultl.f~ Orgarization
sougot some kind of perfection. Some of these QJI\ESC 0), an agency of the United Nations set up
craftsmen are well known, but most were journeymen in 1945. The idea of a fund to preserve the world's
whose names were never meant to be remembered. cultural and natural heritage was sparked in 1959
In the creation of these buildings, they captured the when the temples at Abu Simbel in Egypt were in
glory of their age for all the world to see forever. danger of being submerged in Lake Nasser by the
building of the Aswan High Dam. Following an appeal
It is astonishing that some of these buildings have from the governments of Egypt and S udan, UNESCO
lasted for so long. With a few exceptions , s uch as raised $80 million to move the temples of Ramses II
Norway's stave churches and the T odai-ji Temple in and Nefertari more than 200 ft (60 m) out of harm's
Japan, most wooden structures ha ve not s urvived. way. The work was completed in 1968, and as a result
Even stone buildings ha ve frequently come to grief in of this success, UN ESC 0, with the International Council
earthquakes, wars , fires, and floods. As a result, many on Monuments and Sites Q C OMO$), went on to
draft a new convention. J oined by ideas from the
lnternati onal Union for the Conservation of Nature
QUCN), proposals for safeguarding both cultural and
natural sites were formally adopted by UNESCO's
General Conference in 1972.

Toda y, there are some 800 UI\ESC 0 World Heritage
Sites aound the world, more than 600 of them
cultural, as opposed to natural, sites. Italy and Spain
have the most, followed by France and Germany.
Each year, a dozen or more sites are added to the
list. Proposals for sites can come from any one of the
member countries, which each give one percent of
their U\IE SCO dues to the fund. With voluntary
contributions, the fund receives around $3.5 million
a year. The money goes toward preserving the s ites,
while some is set aside for those currently deemed
at risk through man-made or natural calamities.

Cambodia's specmwlar Angl<or Wat temple,
A The imposing fa~ade of Edinburgh Castle, Scotland built in the 12th century by the Khmer empire >-