UNESCO inscribed 25 new properties on its World Heritage List at the close of the World Heritage Committee’s 48th session in Busan, South Korea, bringing the total to 1,273 sites across 173 countries.
The additions comprise 19 cultural sites, five natural sites and one mixed property. The committee, which met from 20 to 29 July, also approved extensions to two properties already on the list.
Which sites were added?
Among the cultural inscriptions are the Beaches of the D-Day Landings in Normandy, covering Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches along with Pointe du Hoc, surviving sections of the German Atlantic Wall and the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.
Others include Mount Olympus in Greece, the mountaintop fortresses of the medieval Nizari Ismaili state in Iran, Sarnath in India, buildings by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, opera houses built during the Amazon rubber boom, and a transnational stretch of the Silk Roads across Central Asia.
Sao Tome and Principe received its first inscription, for six Portuguese colonial plantation estates documenting forced labour in coffee and cocoa production from the late nineteenth century.
How many World Heritage Sites are there in 2026?
Following the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 20 to 29 July 2026, the World Heritage List comprises 1,273 sites across 173 countries. The session inscribed 25 new properties: 19 cultural, five natural and one mixed. Two existing sites received approved boundary extensions. New inscriptions include the Beaches of the D-Day Landings in Normandy, Mount Olympus in Greece, Sarnath in India and the roças of Sao Tome and Principe, the first inscription for that country. Three properties were added on an emergency basis and simultaneously placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The committee removed the Historic Centre of Vienna from the danger list and adopted a World Heritage Strategy for Small Island Developing States covering 2026 to 2034.
What was decided on sites at risk?
UNESCO said three properties were inscribed on an emergency basis and placed simultaneously on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Three further sites were added to that list: the historic inner city of Paramaribo in Suriname, the ancient city of Tauric Chersonese in Ukraine, and Tyre in Lebanon.
The Historic Centre of Vienna was removed from the danger list. Sites on it gain access to technical and financial assistance and to wider international conservation support.
What else came out of the session?
The committee adopted a World Heritage Strategy for Small Island Developing States running from 2026 to 2034. UNESCO said 23 states party to the 1972 convention still have no inscribed site and would receive additional support.
The session examined 30 nominations and reviewed the state of conservation of 147 sites already on the list. The committee is composed of representatives of 21 states elected from the 196 parties to the convention, and meets once a year.
Inscription obliges the state party to protect and manage the property and to report on its condition. UNESCO describes the designation as the start of a lasting commitment rather than an award, and links it to responsible tourism and local economic development.
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Sources for this report
The Redline News Desk
The Redline News desk files and edits world reporting. Every story carries the sources it was built from, and corrections are published on the story itself.
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