UNESCO adds 19 cultural sites to World Heritage List in 2026, including Aalto works and Tashkent modernism

Key facts

• 25 new UNESCO World Heritage sites inscribed in 2026, including 19 cultural, 5 natural, 1 mixed.
• Aalto Works serial nomination includes 13 buildings across Finland by Alvar, Aino, Elissa Aalto and office.
• Tashkent modernist architecture recognizes 10 sites from post-1966 earthquake reconstruction.
• Theatres of the Amazonia: Theatro da Paz (Belém) and Teatro Amazonas (Manaus), built during rubber boom.
• Jingdezhen porcelain industry sites document nearly 1,000 years of ceramic production.
• Gdynia modernist city centre is a coherent interwar urban development example.
• Italian condominium theatre system includes 10 theatres in Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Umbria.
• D-Day beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword, Pointe du Hoc) inscribed as cultural landscape.
• Capetian fortresses of Languedoc include Carcassonne and seven castles from Albigensian Crusade.
• Castles of Mount Amel in Lebanon comprise five fortified sites from Crusader to Ottoman periods.
• Roças of São Tomé and Príncipe document colonial plantation system and forced migration.
• Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Thailand is a 1,500-year-old Buddhist complex.
• Sidi Bou Saïd village near Tunis recognized for white-and-blue architecture and Sufi heritage.
• Rock mosques of Mangystau in Kazakhstan are subterranean complexes from 12th-18th centuries.
• Sebastia in Palestine preserves multi-millennium archaeological layers.
• Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals in Japan include 19 components from 6th-8th centuries.
• Medinas of Comoros sultanates: six historic cities from at least 11th century.
• Sarnath Buddhist site in India is where Buddha gave his first sermon.
• Xiongnu noble cemetery complexes in Mongolia date from 3rd century BCE to 2nd century CE.
• Alamut castle and associated fortifications in Iran were Ismaili Nizari stronghold.