Hungary has not proposed a site for inclusion on UNESCO?s World Heritage List since 2003, in part because of the cost ? preparing the necessary documentation for a nomination costs between 8 million and 10 million forints ? but also for professional reasons, according to a statement by the Hungarian National Committee for World Heritage. The committee, which is part of Hungary?s Cultural Heritage Protection Office, will not propose a site for selection unless it is one hundred percent certain, based on the opinions of many experts, that it will be included on the UNESCO list.
Under the rules for nominating sites, the Hungarian government may submit a nomination to the World Heritage Committee, based on the proposals of the Hungarian National Committee for World Heritage, by February 1 each year. Although no site was submitted this year, next year the committee could propose, together with Slovakia, fortifications on both sides of the River Danube ? in Komárom, Hungary, and Komarnó, Slovakia ? for inclusion on the list.
Cultural sites in Hungary already included on UNESCO?s World Heritage List include the view of Budapest along the Danube, the Castle District, historic Andrássy Avenue, the area around Fertö, or Neusiedlersee, on Hungary?s border with Austria, the Hortobágy National Park, better known as the ?Puszta? in Hungarian, the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and the famous Tokaj wine region. On UNESCO?s World Heritage List of natural wonders are the caves of Aggtelek, which Hungary shares with Slovakia.
The World Heritage List programme was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on November 16, 1972. Since then, 812 sites have been included on the list. Hungary became a participant in the programme in 1985.
At a meeting in Vilnius on Thursday, the World Heritage Committee inscribed ten new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Among them are Chile?s Sewell Mining Town, built by the Braden Copper company in the early 20th century to house workers at what was then the world's largest underground copper mine; the Chinese archaeological site of Yin Xu, an ancient capital city of the late Shang Dynasty (1300 to 1046 BC); the old town of Regensburg, Germany, with its well-preserved number of historic structures spanning some two millennia, including ancient Roman, Romanesque and Gothic buildings; Bisotun, an archaeological site in Iran which is home to a bas-relief and cuneiform inscription ordered by Darius I, The Great, when he rose to the throne of the Persian Empire in 521 BC; Genoa?s Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli, which represent the first example in Europe of an urban development project with a unitary framework; Oman?s aflaj irrigation system, the origins of which may date back to 500 A.D.; Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland, a landmark in the history of reinforced concrete architecture, erected in 1911-1913 by Max Berg; the Vizcaya Bridge in Spain ? straddling the mouth of the Ibaizabal estuary west of Bilbao ? the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola and used as a model for many similar bridges in Europe, Africa and the Americas; Syria?s Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din, representing the most significant examples illustrating the exchange of influences and documenting the evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the time of the Crusades; and the mining landscape around Cornwall and West Devon, in the UK, which produced two-thirds of the world's supply of copper in the early 19th century.
For more information on Hungary?s World Heritage sites, visit http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/hu
