Cities & Towns
Human settlements of great cultural and historic significance range from remote villages and towns to capital cities and metropolises. The historic districts of famous urban centers contain assemblages of architectural masterpieces, are often associated with influential artistic and intellectual movements, and in their public buildings, residences and streets show layers of historical development. Small villages and towns of outstanding cultural and historic value preserve traditional structures and patterns of settlement representative of living cultures and those that no longer exist.
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Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida
Location: Mérida, Spain, Europe
The Spanish city of Mérida traces its history back to the Roman Empire, in which it figured prominently as an urban center.
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Archaeological Ensemble of Tárraco
Location: Tarragona, Spain, Europe
Present-day Tarragona in northeastern Spain is the site of architecturally and archaeologically significant remains of the ancient Roman city of Tárraco.
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Bryggen
Location: Bergen, Norway, Europe
Bryggen, a historic wharf with preserved wooden row houses in Bergan, Norway, figured prominently in the Hanseatic League during the 14th–16th centuries.
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Church Village of Gammelstad, Luleå
Location: Luleå, Sweden, Europe
The village of Gammelstad, consisting of small wooden cottages and public building clustered around a 15th-century church, is one of northern Sweden’s few remaining “church villages.”
See also: Places of Worship
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City of Le Havre rebuilt by Auguste Perret
Location: Le Harvre, France, Europe
After World War II, the French port city of Le Havre was rebuilt by architect and urban-planner Auguste Perret, using modern methodologies of urban design and reinforced concrete in innovative ways.
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Episcopal City of Albi
Location: Albi, France, Europe
The Episcopal City of Albi embodies the type of urban development characteristic of the medieval and Renaissance periods, together with the unique red-brick construction typical of the Languedoc region of France.
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Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta
Location: Ferrara, Italy, Europe
Under the rule of the House of Este, the city of Ferrara attracted great artists and scholars of the Italian Renaissance, and the city itself expanded according to Renaissance ideals of urban design.
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Historic Center of Avignon
Location: Avignon, France, Europe
The Palais des Papes (Papal Palace), the Cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms and the Avignon Bridge in the French city of Avignon preserve the city’s heritage as the nearly 70-year home of the Papacy in the 14th century.
See also: Palaces & Castles
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Historic Center of Český Krumlov
Location: Krumlov, Czech Republic, Europe
Dominated by a 13th-century castle, the medieval town of Český Krumlov is located along the Vltava River in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.
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Historic Center of Córdoba
Location: Córdoba, Spain, Europe
The city of Cordoba contains outstanding monuments from its Roman past, its golden age as an Islamic capital in the 10th century and from the period of the Christian Reconquista.
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Historic Center of Florence
Location: Florence, Italy, Europe
Florence was Europe’s most prosperous city at the end of the 13th century, and over the next two centuries it became its cultural capital as well, attracting the greatest artists of the Renaissance.
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Historic Center of Mexico City and Xochimilco
Location: Mexico City, Mexico, North America
Mexico City, Mexico, and its suburb of Xochimilco are repositories of historical culture dating back to the Aztec Empire.
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Historic Center of Morelia
Location: Morelia, Mexico, North America
The city of Morelia, Mexico, with its blend of Spanish Renaissance and Mesoamerican architecture, is an outstanding example of urban planning.
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Historic Center of Naples
Location: Naples, Italy, Europe
Founded by the Greeks in the 7th century B.C., the city of Naples bears the impression of the diverse powers that controlled it up to the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
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Historic Center of Prague
Location: Prague, Czech Republic, Europe
Since the Middle Ages, the city of Prague has had enormous influence on the social, political, and cultural development of European civilization, and this heritage is preserved in the city’s historic buildings and urban design.
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Historic Center of Puebla
Location: Puebla, Mexico, North America
Founded in 1531, the center of the colonial city of Puebla in Puebla, Mexico, has exceptional historic buildings representative of many architectural styles.
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Historic Center of San Gimignano
Location: San Gimignano, Italy, Europe
The towers of San Gimignano bear unique testimony to the power struggle that raged between opposing political factions in Italy in the Middle Ages.
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Historic Center of Siena
Location: Siena, Italy, Europe
With medieval architectural landmarks, masterful art and innovative town planning, the Italian city of Siena has been one of Europe’s most influential urban centers.
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Historic Center of the Town of Diamantina
Location: Diamantina, Brazil, South America
The colonial village of Diamantina, Brazil, flourished as a center of diamond mining during the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Historic Center of Urbino
Location: Urbino, Italy, Europe
In the 15th century, the city of Urbino attracted the greatest artists of Italy’s High Renaissance, and the city itself became an embodiment of the Renaissance spirit.
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Historic Center of Zacatecas
Location: Zacatecas, Mexico, North America
As one of the legendary cities of silver, Zacatecas rose to become the second most powerful city in colonial New Spain.
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Historic City of Toledo
Location: Toledo, Spain, Europe
The impressive architecture and monuments of the city of Toledo, in Spain, show the confluence of the medieval cultures of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
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Historic District of Quebec City
Location: Quebec, Canada, North America
Québec City is North America’s only walled city north of Mexico and an architectural treasure to European colonial history in the Americas.
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Historic Fortified Town of Campeche
Location: Campeche, Mexico, North America
The harbor town of Campeche, Mexico, represents a rich historic collection Baroque colonial architecture.
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Historic Site of Lyons
Location: Lyon, France, Europe
The urban settlement of Lyon over several centuries has resulted in a thriving political, cultural and economic center that is steeped in rich history.
See also: Historic Sites
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Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines
Location: Guanajuato, Mexico, North America
The town of Guanajuato in central Mexico, and its nearby silver mines, represent a rich, historic ensemble of colonial and regional architecture.
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Historic Town of Ouro Preto
Location: Ouro Preto, Brazil, South America
A gold rush in the 18th century attracted thousands of fortune seekers to the Brazilian town of Ouro Preto, where churches and public buildings were constructed in a distinctive Baroque style.
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Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama
Location: Shirakawa-go, Japan, Asia
The historic houses in the picturesque villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama in Japan are superbly suited to the climate and needs of the people.
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Historic Walled Town of Cuenca
Location: Cuenca, Spain, Europe
At the heart of modern-day Cuenca, Spain, is a medieval fortified city situated high on a precipice covered with spectacular multistory dwellings.
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Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc
Location: Olomouc, Czech Republic, Europe
The Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Czech Republic, is an 18th-century Christian monument in a regional Baroque style.
See also: Monuments & Memorials, Places of Worship
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Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto
Location: Noto, Italy, Europe
After a 1693 earthquake in the region of Val di Noto in Sicily, urban planners and architects masterfully rebuilt eight towns in a regional Baroque style, using innovative techniques.
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Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City
Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom, Europe
The historic docks and buildings of the port city of Liverpool testify to the city’s legacy as one of the world’s most important trading centers of the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Europe
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a blend of medieval and Georgian architecture, making it the second most visited city in Britain.
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Old City of Berne
Location: Berne, Switzerland, Europe
Founded in the 12th century on a hill site surrounded by the Aare River, Berne developed over the centuries in line with a an exceptionally coherent planning concept.
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Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls
Location: Old City of Jerusalem
As a holy city for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Jerusalem has always been of great symbolic importance.
See also: Historic Sites
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Old City of Salamanca
Location: Salamanca, Spain, Europe
Following the Reconquista, the city of Salamanca was reborn, and important monuments were built in every major architectural style.
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Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Location: Lunenburg, Canada, North America
Established by the British in 1753, the fishing and shipbuilding town of Lunenburg in Nova Scotia, Canada, is a well-preserved colonial settlement, featuring historic wooden buildings.
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Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches
Location: Ávila, Spain, Europe
With its well-preserved military fortifications and striking Romanesque and Gothic churches, the city of Ávila, Spain offers an invaluable glimpse into medieval history.
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Old Town of Cáceres
Location: Cáceres, Spain, Europe
Surrounded by medieval defensive towers, the Spanish city of Cáceres contains a wealth of Roman, Moorish, Gothic and Renaissance architectural treasures.
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Old Town of Santiago de Compostela
Location: Santiago de Compostella, Spain, Europe
The Old Town of the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela is the terminus of one of Christianity’s greatest pilgrimage routes and the site of a grand cathedral.
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Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct
Location: Segovia, Spain, Europe
In the historic center of Segovia, Spain, architectural monuments from the Middle Ages and early Renaissance surround the city’s most prominent landmark, an aqueduct from Roman Times.
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Paris, Banks of the Seine
Location: Paris, France, Europe
The section of the River Seine that flows through Paris, France, is famed for its natural beauty and the collection of architectural landmarks along its banks.
See also: Regions & Landscapes
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Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
Location: Pisa, Italy, Europe
The Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), located in the center of Pisa in Tuscany, Italy, is home to group of exceptional marble monuments, dating from the Middle Ages.
See also: Architecture
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Port of the Moon, Bordeaux
Location: Bordeaux, France, Europe
Bordeaux, also know as Port of the Moon, is a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France, noted for its rich architectural and cultural heritage.
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Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs
Location: Provins, France, Europe
The town of Provins was one of several towns in the Champagne region of France to have hosted important trading fairs in the medieval period but is the only one to have survived with the walls, churches, homes and other buildings characteristic of the period intact.
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Rideau Canal, Ontario
Location: Canada, North America
The exquisitely preserved Rideau Canal, Ontario, Canada, is the oldest continuously operated canal in North America.
See also: Historic Sites, Regions & Landscapes
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Roman Walls of Lugo
Location: Lugo, Spain, Europe
The Roman walls and defensive complex in the city of Lugo in Northwestern Spain exemplify the ancient civilization that once controlled the city.
See also: Architecture
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Saltaire
Location: Saltaire, United Kingdom, Europe
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, England, is a superbly preserved 19th century industrial town.
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San Cristóbal de La Laguna
Location: San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain, Europe
The ancient capital of the Canary Islands, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, is known for its geometrically planned urban center and abundance of historically important architecture.
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San Miguel and the Sanctuary de Atotonilco
Location: San Miguel, Mexico, North America
The fortified town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, contains exemplary religious and civic buildings of Mexican Baroque architecture.
See also: Places of Worship
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The Trulli of Alberobello
Location: Alberobello, Italy, Europe
Alberobello is home to a dense concentration of trulli, limestone cottages with cone-shaped roofs built between the mid-15th and late-18th centuries.
See also: Architecture, Historic Sites
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White City of Tel-Aviv
Location: Tel-Aviv, Israel, Asia
Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 and developed as a metropolitan city under the British Mandate in Palestine.
See also: Architecture
