UNESCO has officially added 26 new sites to its World Heritage List for 2025, recognizing places of exceptional cultural and natural importance around the globe. The latest additions were announced during the organization’s 47th annual session held July 6-16 in Paris, bringing the total number of World Heritage Sites to 1,248 across more than 170 countries.
This year, UNESCO considered 32 nominations and approved 21 cultural, four natural, and one mixed site for inscription.
One of the most headline-worthy additions is Germany’s Bavarian Palaces of King Ludwig II, including the iconic Neuschwanstein Castle, which famously inspired Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. Open to the public as museums since the king’s death in 1886, these palaces are celebrated for their fairy tale allure.
Other European additions include France’s Megaliths of Carnac and the shores of Morbihan, Italy’s Funerary Tradition in the Prehistory of Sardinia, and Denmark’s Møns Klint, a beautiful white chalk cliff landscape full of fossils and natural beauty.
The full list
- Australia: Murujuga Cultural Landscape
- Brazil: Cavernas do Peruaçu National Park
- Cambodia: Cambodian Memorial Sites: From centers of repression to places of peace and reflection
- Cameroon: Diy-Gid-Biy Cultural Landscape of the Mandara Mountains
- China: Xixia Imperial Tombs
- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: Mount Kumgang – Diamond Mountain from the Sea
- Denmark: Møns Klint
- France: Megaliths of Carnac and of the shores of Morbihan
- Germany: The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee
- Greece: Minoan Palatial Centres
- Guinea-Bissau: Coastal and Marine Ecosystems of the Bijagós Archipelago – Omatí Minhô
- India: Maratha Military Landscapes of India
- Iran (Islamic Republic of): The Prehistoric Sites of the Khorramabad Valley
- Italy: Funerary Tradition in the Prehistory of Sardinia – The domus de janas
- Jamaica: The Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal
- Malawi: Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape
- Malaysia: Forest Research Institute Malaysia Forest Park Selangor
- Mexico: Wixárika Route through Sacred Sites to Wirikuta (Tatehuarí Huajuyé)
- Panama: The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá
- Republic of Korea: Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream
- Russian Federation: Rock Paintings of Shulgan-Tash Cave
- Sierra Leone: Gola-Tiwai Complex
- Tajikistan: Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
- Turkey: Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe
- United Arab Emirates: Faya Palaeolandscape
- Vietnam: Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex of Monuments and Landscapes
