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] Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation, or natural beauty, are defined as natural heritage. [2] Libya accepted the convention on 13 October 1978. [3] There are five World Heritage Sites in Libya, with a further three on the tentative list. [3]
The first three sites in Libya were added to the list in 1982 and the most recent one in 1986. [3] All five sites are listed due to their cultural significance. Since 2016, all five sites have been listed as endangered because of the instability due to the Libyan civil war. [4]
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. [5]
Site | Image | Location ( district) | Year listed | UNESCO data | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna† | Murqub | 1982 | 183; iii, v vi (cultural) | Leptis Magna was founded as a Phoenician settlement LPQ and came under the Romans in 46 BCE. It was the birthplace of the Septimius Severus. After becoming the Emperor in 193, he rebuilt and enlarged the city and made it one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman world. It is one of the best examples of Roman urban planning. It was pillaged in the 4th century, reconquered by the Byzantines, and was finally abandoned following the Arab invasion. The ruins of the Roman theater are pictured. [6] [7] | |
Archaeological Site of Sabratha† | Zawiya | 1982 | Cultural (iii) | A Phoenician trading-post that served as an outlet for the products of the African hinterland, Sabratha was part of the short-lived Numidian Kingdom of Massinissa before being Romanized and rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. [8] | |
Archaeological Site of Cyrene† | Jabal al Akhdar | 1982 | Cultural (ii) (iii) (vi) | A colony of the Greeks of Thera, Cyrene was one of the principal cities in the Hellenic world. It was Romanized and remained a great capital until the earthquake of 365. A thousand years of history is written into its ruins, which have been famous since the 18th century. [9] | |
Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus† | Ghat | 1985 | Cultural (iii) | On the borders of Tassili N'Ajjer in Algeria, also a World Heritage site, this rocky massif has thousands of cave paintings in very different styles, dating from 12,000 B.C. to A.D. 100. They reflect marked changes in the fauna and flora, and also the different ways of life of the populations that succeeded one another in this region of the Sahara. [10] | |
Old Town of Ghadamès† | Ghat | 1986 | Cultural (v) | Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert', stands in an oasis. It is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities and an outstanding example of a traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture is characterized by a vertical division of functions: the ground floor used to store supplies; then another floor for the family, overhanging covered alleys that create what is almost an underground network of passageways; and, at the top, open-air terraces reserved for the women. [11] |
Site | Image | Location | Criteria | Area ha ( acre) |
Year of submission | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Archaeological site of Ghirza | Misrata District | Cultural (ii) (iii) | 2020 | [12] | ||
The Archaeological Site of Ptolemais | Marj District | Cultural (ii) (iii) (iv) | 2020 | [13] | ||
Haua Fteah Cave | Derna District | Cultural (iii) (iv) (v) | 2020 | [14] |