UNESCO adds 21 new World Heritage sites for 2016

The additions bring the total number of sites on the list to 911 , which include natural attractions like the Grand Canyon as well as man-made and cultural sites like the Acropolis.

The new sites added to the list, which are selected by the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO as being of special cultural or physical significance, include China’s Zuojiang Huashan rock art cultural landscape; the archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara in India; the Qanat water systems in Iran and artificial islets of Nan Madol in Micronesia. 

(The Federated States of Micronesia is an independent sovereign island nation and an US associated state consisting of four States - from West to East, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae - that are spread across the Western Pacific Ocean).

The 21 sites that have been inscribed include the architectural works of Le Corbusier, found in Argentina, France, Japan and more for their outstanding contribution to the modern movement. The 17 sites are found over seven countries and “are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past”, according to UNESCO.

UNESCO said the next meeting will be in 2017 in Bahrain./.