Anuradhapura (inscribed 1982) was the Sinhalese capital for 1,300 years (380 BCE–993 CE) and contains the oldest documented living tree in the world: the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, a fig tree grown from a cutting of the Buddha’s Bodhi Tree, planted 288 BCE. The Jetavanarama Dagoba (c. 300 CE, originally 122m high) was the third-tallest ancient structure in the world after the two largest Egyptian pyramids.

Quedlinburg (inscribed 1994) is where the German nation began: the crypt of St. Servatius Collegiate Church (1021–1129 CE) holds the tombs of Henry I (919 CE, the first elected German king) and Queen Mathilde who founded the Abbey in 936 CE. The old town has 1,300 half-timbered (Fachwerk) buildings spanning 600 years, including the oldest Fachwerk house in Germany (c. 1270 CE).

Colonia del Sacramento (inscribed 1995) is a tiny Portuguese colonial town (0.2 km²) on the Río de la Plata, 45 minutes by ferry from Buenos Aires — founded 1680 by Portugal as a challenge to Spanish Buenos Aires and conquered and reconquered 8 times. The calçada portuguesa cobblestone streets, the convent ruins converted into a lighthouse, and the unique Portuguese-Spanish architectural blend survive intact.

Trogir (inscribed 1997) is the most complete Romanesque-Gothic city in the Adriatic: a 600×300m island city on the Dalmatian coast, founded by Greeks in 380 BCE, built through Roman, Byzantine, Croatian, and 377 years of Venetian rule. The Portal of Master Radovan (1240 CE) on the Cathedral of Saint Lawrence — 8m of carved limestone — is the finest Romanesque sculpture in Croatia. 27 km from Split’s Diocletian’s Palace.

My Son (85 km) and Hoi An (95 km) are the nearest World Heritage sites to Hué. How the Nguyen capital was planned, and why ICOMOS proposed two criteria.

Great Zimbabwe (inscribed 1986) is the largest ancient stone structure in Africa south of Egypt: the Great Enclosure’s elliptical wall (250m circumference, 11m high, 5m thick) was built dry-stone without mortar by the Zimbabwe Kingdom (1100–1450 CE), pop. 18,000. Colonial Rhodesia denied Africans built it until 1980. The Zimbabwe Bird soapstone figurines became the nation’s symbol.

Old Town of Lamu (inscribed 2001) is the best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa: coral stone houses, 23 mosques, 2,000 working donkeys (no cars ever), elaborately carved wooden doors, and a surviving dhow-building tradition. The 14th-century town traded ivory, gold, and enslaved people across the Indian Ocean to Arabia, Persia, and India.

Fasil Ghebbi (inscribed 1979) is the “Camelot of Africa”: Emperor Fasilides’s five-palace walled enclosure (c. 1635–1667 CE), a synthesis of Ethiopian, Portuguese, and Mughal architecture. The Timkat Festival (Ethiopian Epiphany, January) fills the 17th-century Fasilides Bath with tens of thousands of white-robed Orthodox faithful and is UNESCO-listed Intangible Heritage.

Aksum (inscribed 1980) was one of the four great empires of the ancient world — its stelae field has obelisks up to 33m (the tallest ancient monolith ever attempted); the Stele 2 (24m) was in Rome from 1937 to 2008, removed by Mussolini. The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion claims to house the Ark of the Covenant, guarded by a single monk for life.

Cartagena de Indias (inscribed 1984) is the most fortified Spanish colonial port in the Americas: the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas (1536–1657), 11 km of city walls (up to 17m thick), and Admiral Blas de Lezo’s 1741 defeat of a British fleet of 186 ships with only 3,000 men. The coloured colonial city within the walls is García Márquez’s city — the setting of “Love in the Time of Cholera.”