A total of 29 new UNESCO World Heritage sites have been added to the official list for this year, including one for the UK. Here are 8 of our favourites. 

Starting closer to home, the landmark Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire has been named as the UK’s newest UNESCO World Heritage site, becoming the UK’s 32nd such site to join the list. 

Owned by the University of Manchester, the observatory hosts a number of radio telescopes and is part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. 

Famous as the home of the Lovell Telescope, the world’s third largest steerable radio telescope, the observatory welcomes groups on weekday afternoons to discover more of the stories behind the observatory and telescope. 

Visitors can enjoy a private tour of the extensive gardens and arboretum as well as finding out about the ground-breaking science that takes place at the observatory. 

The announcement about Jodrell Bank came as the World Heritage Committee met to determine which landmarks should be added to the list. Other UK sites include the Giant’s Causeway, Stonehenge and the Lake District. 

Here’s the full list of new sites: 

1. Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites of Burkina Faso, Burkina Faso

2. Archaeological ruins of Liangzhu City, China

3. Babylon, Iraq

4. Bagan, Myanmar

5. Budj Bim cultural landscape, Australia

6. Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture, Russia

7. Dilmun Burial Mounds, Bahrain

8. Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, Czechia and Germany

9. French Austral Lands and Seas, France

10. Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace, Azerbaijan

11. Hyrcanian Forests, Iran

12. Jaipur City, India

13. Jodrell Bank Observatory, UK

14. Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region, Poland

15. Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem, Czechia

16. Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene, Italy

17. Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang – Plain of Jars, Lao People’s Democratic Republic

18. Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I), China

19. Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan, Japan

20. Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto, Indonesia

21. Paraty and Ilha Grande – Culture and Biodiversity, Brazil

22. Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape, Spain

23. Royal Building of Mafra – Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park (Tapada), Portugal

24. Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga, Portugal

25. Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies, Republic of Korea

26. The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, The USA

27. Vatnajökull National Park - dynamic nature of fire and ice, Iceland

28. Water Management System of Augsburg, Germany

29. Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi, Canada

Topics