List of World Heritage Sites in Eritrea

Asmara

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Location of the World Heritage Site in Eritrea

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. ^[1] Eritrea accepted the convention, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. As of 2023, Eritrea has only one World Heritage Sites. ^[2]

World Heritage Sites

UNESCO lists sites under ten criteria; each entry must meet at least one of the criteria. Criteria i through vi are cultural, and vii through x are natural. ^[3]

World Heritage Sites

Site	Image	Location	Year listed	UNESCO data	Description
Asmara: A Modernist African City		Central Region	2017	Cultural (ii) (iv)	Located at over 2,000 m above sea level, the capital of Eritrea developed from the 1890s onwards as a military outpost for the Italian colonial power. After 1935, Asmara underwent a large scale programme of construction applying the Italian rationalist idiom of the time to governmental edifices, residential and commercial buildings, churches, mosques, synagogues, cinemas, hotels, etc. The property encompasses the area of the city that resulted from various phases of planning between 1893 and 1941, as well as the indigenous unplanned neighbourhoods of Arbate Asmera and Abbashawel. It is an exceptional example of early modernist urbanism at the beginning of the 20th century and its application in an African context. [4]

Tentative List

In addition to sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, member states can maintain a list of tentative sites that they may consider for nomination. Nominations for the World Heritage List are only accepted if the site was previously listed on the tentative list. ^[5] Eritrea maintains one property on its tentative list. ^[2]

Tentative sites

Site	Image	Location	Year listed	UNESCO criteria	Description
Qohaito Cultural Landscape		Debub Region	2011	Cultural (iii) (v)	[6]

References

1. "The World Heritage Convention". UNESCO. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
2. "Eritrea". UNESCO. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
3. "UNESCO World Heritage Centre – The Criteria for Selection". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
4. "Asmara: A Modernist African City". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2023-11-20. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO (CC BY 3.0 IGO) license.
5. "Tentative Lists". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 24 September 2005. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
6. "Qohaito Cultural Landscape". UNESCO World Heritage Centre (in French). Retrieved 2023-11-20.