2470 District of Rotary International (Greece)
The “Sea Gate” of the Medieval Town of Rhodes, lighted with the logo “END POLIO NOW”, February 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS The Governor’s Salutation ........................................................................................................ 4 UNESCO’s World Heritage mission ........................................................................................... 5 The Criteria for Selection .......................................................................................................... 6 World Heritage List – Greece ................................................................................................... 7 Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae ...................................................................................... 9 Acropolis, Athens ................................................................................................................... 10 Archaeological Site of Delphi ................................................................................................. 11 Medieval City of Rhodes ......................................................................................................... 12 Meteora ................................................................................................................................... 13 Mount Athos ............................................................................................................................ 14 Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika ................................................... 15 Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus ..................................................................................... 16 Archaeological Site of Mystras ............................................................................................... 17 Archaeological Site of Olympia .............................................................................................. 18 Delos ....................................................................................................................................... 19 Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios ............................................ 20 Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos ...................................................................................... 21 Archaeological Site of Aigai (Vergina) .................................................................................... 22 Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns .......................................................................... 23 Historic Centre with the Monastery of Saint John .................................................................. 24 Old Town of Corfu ................................................................................................................... 25 The photographer ................................................................................................................... 26
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Fellow rotarians, Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. In 1985, Rotary International initiated its most ambitious program, Polio-Plus, with a view to eliminating polio from the world. In 2012 we are only a short distance away from achieving this goal. Meanwhile, Rotary International started the campaign End Polio Now as its final strike against the disease. As Governor 2011 – 2012 of 2470 RI District, I had in mind, for quite a long time, to light an outstanding monument in Greece, a monument of a clear multi-cultural nature, a monument classified by UNESCO as World Heritage Monument, that of the Medieval City of Rhodes. Today, with this publication, I would like to present the outcome of this initiative and, at the same time, bring you all closer to my country, Greece, by means of its most characteristic monuments, those classified by UNESCO as World Heritage Monuments. I would also like to express, herein, my best thanks to RC of Rhodes and its members, for making my most daring dream a most beautiful reality. Nikolaos Makrygiannis 2470 DG
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UNESCO’s World Heritage mission • encourage countries to sign the World Heritage Convention and to ensure the protection of their natural and cultural heritage; • encourage States Parties to the Convention to nominate sites within their national territory for inclusion on the World Heritage List; • encourage States Parties to establish management plans and set up reporting systems on the state of conservation of their World Heritage sites; • help States Parties safeguard World Heritage properties by providing technical assistance and professional training; • provide emergency assistance for World Heritage sites in immediate danger; • support States Parties’ public awareness-building activities for World Heritage conservation; • encourage participation of the local population in the preservation of their cultural and natural heritage; • encourage international cooperation in the conservation of our world’s cultural and natural heritage.
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rom the vast plains of the Serengeti to historic cities such as Vienna, Lima and Kyoto; from the prehistoric rock art on the Iberian Peninsula to the Statue of Liberty; from the Kasbah of Algiers to the Imperial Palace in Beijing — all of these places, as varied as they are, have one thing in common. All are World Heritage sites of outstanding cultural or natural value to humanity and are worthy of protection for future generations to know and enjoy.
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The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO and National Geographic Society concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Number indicates site order by year of inscription within each country. See country index on back side of map for site listings. Only States Parties to the World Heritage Convention are labeled on this map. United Nations (UN) country boundaries shown as of October 2011 http://whc.unesco.org http://www.nationalgeographic.com
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The World Heritage emblem symbolizes the interdependence of the world’s natural and cultural diversity. The central square represents the achievements of human skill and inspiration, and the circle celebrates the gifts of nature. The emblem is round, like the world, a symbol of global protection for the heritage of all humankind.
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Cultural heritage refers to monuments, buildings and sites with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value. Natural heritage refers to outstanding physical, biological or geological features and includes habitats of threatened species, as well as areas with scientific, environmental or aesthetic value. Mixed sites have both cultural and natural values.
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World Heritage sites are inscribed on the List on the basis of their merits as forming a significant contribution to the cultural and natural heritage of the world. Their outstanding universal value is considered to go beyond national boundaries and to be of importance for future generations.
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Conserving the diversity of life on Earth is critical to global human welfare. With the support of the World Heritage Convention, the most important biodiversity sites receive international recognition as well as technical and financial assistance to deal with threats such as agricultural encroachment, alien species and poaching.
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‌ parts of the cultural or natural heritage are of outstanding interest and therefore need to be preserved as part of the world heritage of humankind as a whole. ‌ [with] the magnitude and gravity of the new dangers threatening‌ [the world’s heritage], it is incumbent on the international community as a whole to participate in the protection of the cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal value‌
Powerful tides in Canada’s Bay of Fundy wash away layers of rock at Joggins Fossil Cliffs to reveal a geological record more than 300 million years old. The Coal Age rainforest supported some 200 species here, including the world’s first reptiles.
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An Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Outstanding Universal Value, called “the World Heritage Committeeâ€?, is‌ established within UNESCO.
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The World Heritage Sustainable Tourism Programme helps visitors discover World Heritage sites while encouraging respect of the environment and local cultures and enhancing community livelihoods.
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A unique kind of medina (Islamic city), the Kasbah of Algiers stands in one of the finest coastal sites on the Mediterranean. It has been inhabited from at least the 6th century BC when a Phoenician trading post was established. Several styles of traditional houses, palaces, hammams, mosques and souks have been preserved.
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The fortress town of Cartagena was founded in 1533 on the coast of Colombia. Magnificent colonial stone churches, palaces and gardens still testify to the wealth that flowed through the port in the form of silver, gold and slaves.
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... the Committee shall establish‌ under the title of “World Heritage Listâ€?, a list of the properties forming part of the cultural heritage and natural heritage... which it considers as having outstanding universal value...
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Worldwide, 104 World Heritage forests protect more than 76 million hectares of woodland. This accounts for 1.9 percent of the global forest cover and about 13 percent of the surface area of all protected forests on the planet.
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The Earthen Architecture Conservation Programme works toward conserving and revitalizing earthen architecture, which is threatened by natural disasters and industrialization. Currently, some one hundred properties on the World Heritage List are partially or totally built with earth.
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Ecuador’s Sangay National Park, mainly uninhabited, encompasses glacial mountain peaks, low-lying rainforests, and more than 300 lakes. The park’s rugged terrain, located near the meeting point of two tectonic plates, includes two 5,000-meter active volcanoes.
Since the 17th century, the Dutch have depended on state-of-the-art engineering to reclaim their land from the sea. The world’s largest steam-powered pumping station is the Woudagemaal, built in 1920 and still able to drain 4 million litres of water per minute.
Each gateway to Madagascar’s Royal Hill of Ambohimanga was once sealed with a massive circular stone to control access to the hill. The site’s royal city, its burial grounds with royal tombs, and several sacred places still attract pilgrims today.
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UNESCO / Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein
The Thatta necropolis in Pakistan consists of clusters of tombs and monuments erected between the 14th and 18th centuries. Intricate carvings and blue glazed tiles decorate a number of the sandstone and brick buildings, providing a unique example of blended architectural features from Iran, India and Central Asia.
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Cold War history is preserved in military installations at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. United States nuclear testing from 1946 to 1958 devastated most of the area’s coral reefs. Scientists are now studying the re-emergence of the marine ecosystem.
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UNESCO / Ron Van Oers
Sebastien Cailleux / Corbis
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Our Place World Heritage Collection
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The World Heritage Cities Programme seeks to protect living historic city centres and their cultural and architectural heritage from threats such as uncontrolled development or inappropriate construction.
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The OUR PLACE World Heritage photobank is developed in partnership with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The OUR PLACE team has now photographed more than 350 World Heritage sites in over 85 countries. Visit: www.ourplace worldheritage.com
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Saint Petersburg was the vision of Russian Tsar Peter the Great, who began building his new capital along the Neva River in 1703. Recruiting Europe’s greatest architects and an army of forced labor, Peter erected a carefully planned city of ornate palaces, parks, and monumental squares in just two decades. Today some 400 bridges cross its network of shimmering canals.
At least 500 fish species and about 200 coral species live in Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area in the mid Pacific. Remote and vast – covering more than 400,000 square kilometers – the unexplored deep waters hold submerged volcanoes and reefs almost untouched by humans.
The Criteria for Selection To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text of the Convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage. The criteria are regularly revised by the Committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself. Until the end of 2004, World Heritage sites were selected on the basis of six cultural and four natural criteria. With the adoption of the revised Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, only one set of ten criteria exists.
Cultural criteria
Natural criteria
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Selection criteria: i. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design; iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared; iv. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history; v. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria); vii. to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; viii. to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features; ix. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; x. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. The protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations. Since 1992 significant interactions between people and the natural environment have been recognized as cultural landscapes.
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World Heritage List Greece
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Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae
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Prefectures of Messenia, Arcadia, and Ilia in the Western Peloponnese N37 26 5.928 E21 53 48.984 Date of Inscription: 1986 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)
This famous temple to the god of healing and the sun was built towards the middle of the 5th century B.C. in the lonely heights of the Arcadian mountains. The temple, which has the oldest Corinthian capital yet found, combines the Archaic style and the serenity of the Doric style with some daring architectural features.
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Acropolis, Athens
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Prefecture and Region of Attica N37 58 15.132 E23 43 34.248 Date of Inscription: 1987 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world. In the second half of the fifth century bc, Athens, following the victory against the Persians and the establishment of democracy, took a leading position amongst the other city-states of the ancient world. In the age that followed, as thought and art flourished, an exceptional group of artists put into effect the ambitious plans of Athenian statesman Pericles and, under the inspired guidance of the sculptor Pheidias, transformed the rocky hill into a unique monument of thought and the arts. The most important monuments were built during that time: the Parthenon, built by Ictinus, the Erechtheon, the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis, designed by Mnesicles and the small temple Athena Nike.
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Archaeological Site of Delphi
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Prefecture of Phokis, Region of Central Greece N38 28 53.364 E22 29 46.212 Date of Inscription: 1987 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
The pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Delphi, where the oracle of Apollo spoke, was the site of the omphalos, the ‘navel of the world’. Blending harmoniously with the superb landscape and charged with sacred meaning, Delphi in the 6th century B.C. was indeed the religious centre and symbol of unity of the ancient Greek world.
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Medieval City of Rhodes
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Prefecture of Dodecanese, Region of the South Aegean N36 26 49.992 E28 13 40.008 Date of Inscription: 1988 Criteria: (ii)(iv)(v)
The Order of St. John of Jerusalem occupied Rhodes from 1309 to 1523 and set about transforming the city into a stronghold. It subsequently came under Turkish and Italian rule. With the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital and the Street of the Knights, the Upper Town is one of the most beautiful urban ensembles of the Gothic period. In the Lower Town, Gothic architecture coexists with mosques, public baths and other buildings dating from the Ottoman period.
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Meteora
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Prefecture of Trikala, Region of Thessaly N39 43 0.012 E21 37 59.988 Date of Inscription: 1988 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(v)(vii)
In a region of almost inaccessible sandstone peaks, monks settled on these ‘columns of the sky’ from the 11th century onwards. Twenty-four of these monasteries were built, despite incredible difficulties, at the time of the great revival of the eremetic ideal in the 15th century. Their 16th-century frescoes mark a key stage in the development of post-Byzantine painting.
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Mount Athos
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Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain N40 16 0.012 E24 13 0.012 Date of Inscription: 1988 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)
An Orthodox spiritual centre since 1054, Mount Athos has enjoyed an autonomous statute since Byzantine times. The ‘Holy Mountain’, which is forbidden to women and children, is also a recognized artistic site. The layout of the monasteries (about 20 of which are presently inhabited by some 1,400 monks) had an influence as far afield as Russia, and its school of painting influenced the history of Orthodox art.
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Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika
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Prefecture of Thessaloniki, Region of Central Macedonia N40 38 17.988 E22 57 54 Date of Inscription: 1988 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)
Founded in 315 B.C., the provincial capital and sea port of Thessalonika was one of the first bases for the spread of Christianity. Among its Christian monuments are fine churches, some built on the Greek cross plan and others on the three-nave basilica plan. Constructed over a long period, from the 4th to the 15th century, they constitute a diachronic typological series, which had considerable influence in the Byzantine world. The mosaics of the rotunda, St. Demetrius and St. David are among the great masterpieces of early Christian art.
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Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus
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Prefecture of Argolis, Region of the Peloponnesos N37 40 0 E23 7 0 Date of Inscription: 1988 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
In a small valley in the Peloponnesus, the shrine of Asklepios, the god of medicine, developed out of a much earlier cult of Apollo (Maleatas), during the 6th century BC at the latest, as the official cult of the city state of Epidaurus. Its principal monuments, particularly the temple of Asklepios, the Tholos and the Theatre considered one of the purest masterpieces of Greek architecture – date from the 4th century. The vast site, with its temples and hospital buildings devoted to its healing gods, provides valuable insight into the healing cults of Greek and Roman times.
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Archaeological Site of Mystras
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Prefecture of Laconia, Region of the Peloponnesos N37 4 50.016 E22 22 0.012 Date of Inscription: 1989 Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)
Mystras, the ‘wonder of the Morea’, was built as an amphitheatre around the fortress erected in 1249 by the prince of Achaia, William of Villehardouin. Reconquered by the Byzantines, then occupied by the Turks and the Venetians, the city was abandoned in 1832, leaving only the breathtaking medieval ruins, standing in a beautiful landscape.
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Archaeological Site of Olympia
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Prefecture of Ilia, Region of West Greece in the Western Peloponnese N37 38 60 E21 40 0 Date of Inscription: 1989 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
The site of Olympia, in a valley in the Peloponnesus, has been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the 10th century B.C., Olympia became a centre for the worship of Zeus. The Altis – the sanctuary to the gods – has one of the highest concentrations of masterpieces from the ancient Greek world. In addition to temples, there are the remains of all the sports structures erected for the Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia every four years beginning in 776 B.C.
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Delos
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Prefecture of Cyclades, Region of the South Aegean N37 23 60 E25 16 0.012 Date of Inscription: 1990 Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
According to Greek mythology, Apollo was born on this tiny island in the Cyclades archipelago. Apollo’s sanctuary attracted pilgrims from all over Greece and Delos was a prosperous trading port. The island bears traces of the succeeding civilizations in the Aegean world, from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the palaeochristian era. The archaeological site is exceptionally extensive and rich and conveys the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port.
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Monasteries of Daphnion, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios
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Regions of Attica, Central Greece, North Aegean N38 23 60 E22 45 0 Date of Inscription: 1990 Criteria: (i)(iv)
Although geographically distant from each other, these three monasteries (the first is in Attica, near Athens, the second in Phocida near Delphi, and the third on an island in the Aegean Sea, near Asia Minor) belong to the same typological series and share the same aesthetic characteristics. The churches are built on a cross-in-square plan with a large dome supported by squinches defining an octagonal space. In the 11th and 12th centuries they were decorated with superb marble works as well as mosaics on a gold background, all characteristic of the ‘second golden age of Byzantine art’.
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Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos
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Prefecture of Samos, Region of the North Aegean N37 41 26.988 E26 56 35.988 Date of Inscription: 1992 Criteria: (ii)(iii)
Many civilizations have inhabited this small Aegean island, near Asia Minor, since the 3rd millennium B.C. The remains of Pythagoreion, an ancient fortified port with Greek and Roman monuments and a spectacular tunnel-aqueduct, as well as the Heraion, temple of the Samian Hera, can still be seen.
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Archaeological Site of Aigai (Vergina)
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Prefecture of Imathia, Region of Central Macedonia N40 28 17.004 E22 19 5.988 Date of Inscription: 1996 Criteria: (i)(iii)
The city of Aigai, the ancient first capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia, was discovered in the 19th century near Vergina, in northern Greece. The most important remains are the monumental palace, lavishly decorated with mosaics and painted stuccoes, and the burial ground with more than 300 tumuli, some of which date from the 11th century B.C. One of the royal tombs in the Great Tumulus is identified as that of Philip II, who conquered all the Greek cities, paving the way for his son Alexander and the expansion of the Hellenistic world.
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Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns
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Prefecture of Argolis, Region of the Peloponnesos N37 43 60 E22 45 0 Date of Inscription: 1999 Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
The archaeological sites of Mycenae and Tiryns are the imposing ruins of the two greatest cities of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean world from the 15th to the 12th century B.C. and played a vital role in the development of classical Greek culture. These two cities are indissolubly linked to the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which have influenced European art and literature for more than three millennia.
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Historic Centre with the Monastery of Saint John
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Prefecture of Dodecanese, Region of the South Aegean N37 17 60 E26 33 0 Date of Inscription: 1999 Criteria: (iii)(iv)(vi)
The small island of Patmos in the Dodecanese is reputed to be where St. John the Theologian wrote both his Gospel and the Apocalypse. A monastery dedicated to the ‘beloved disciple’ was founded there in the late 10th century and it has been a place of pilgrimage and Greek Orthodox learning ever since. The fine monastic complex dominates the island. The old settlement of Chora, associated with it, contains many religious and secular buildings.
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Old Town of Corfu
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Ionian Islands, Corfu Prefecture N39 37 26.189 E19 55 39 Date of Inscription: 2007 Criteria: (iv)
The Old Town of Corfu, on the Island of Corfu off the western coasts of Albania and Greece, is located in a strategic position at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea, and has its roots in the 8th century BC. The three forts of the town, designed by renowned Venetian engineers, were used for four centuries to defend the maritime trading interests of the Republic of Venice against the Ottoman Empire. In the course of time, the forts were repaired and partly rebuilt several times, more recently under British rule in the 19th century. The mainly neoclassical housing stock of the Old Town is partly from the Venetian period, partly of later construction, notably the 19th century. As a fortified Mediterranean port, Corfu’s urban and port ensemble is notable for its high level of integrity and authenticity.
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The photographer Nikos Kasseris was born in Rhodes, Greece, in 1951. He graduated from the University of Economics in Piraeus. Since 1980, using Rhodes as his base, he has been active in various fields of applied photography as well as in the publication of books on fine-art photography. In 1978 he established the Photographic Workshop of the Municipality of Rhodes, where he was a lecturer for several years until 1990. Nikos Kasseris’ photographic work has been widely shown in both individual and group exhibitions, and his ‘Multi-Vision’ presentations have been shown in Rhodes, Athens and other major Greek and European cities, as well as in two tours in the USA, in 1996 and 1997, where he was invited by various Universities and the Greek Community. To date, he has published seven high-quality editions, and he has participated in three others. For his contribution to photography and fine-art publishing, Nikos was honoured by the Academy of Athens in 1996.
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February 2010: End Polio Now is projected onto the Lake Marathon Dam overlooking the historic Marathon Memorial Battlefield in Greece (490 A.C.).
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Text compiled by: Nikos Makrygiannis (RC of Halandri) Translated and Edited by: Constantina Episcopopoulou (RC of Nea Smyrni) Art Director: Kalliopi Xenopoulou (RC of Hermoupolis)
2470 RID Publication Rotary Year 2011-12