Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation
New UNESCO sites: The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added 29 new sites to its prestigious World Heritage List at its July 2019 meeting. Among its designations was the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Tae Rak in Australia, shown here.
Courtesy S. Mammadov/Azerberpa
Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan's Palace, Azerbaijan: Located at the foot of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, this historic city is divided by the Gurjana River.
Melanie Münzner/Think Heritage
Dilmun Burial Mounds, Bahrain: Built between 2050 BC and 1750 BC, the new heritage site includes 21 archaeological sites on the island's western side.
IPHAN/UNESCO
Paraty and Ilha Grande -- Culture and Biodiversity, Brazil: A mixed natural and cultural heritage site, this new designation includes the historic Paraty coastal town center and four protected parts of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
Courtesy Sébastien Moriset/DSCPM/MCAT
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites, Burkina Faso: The site is actually several different sites located across the country, one of which dates back to the 8th century BC. The new designation includes standing furnaces, mines and evidence of dwellings.
Alberta Parks/UNESCO
Writing-on-Stone/Áísínai'pi, Canada: Located on the Great Plains border between Canada and the United States, this site dates from 1800 BC. The Milk River Valley is home to hoodoos (columns of rock sculpted by erosion into shapes) and the engravings and drawings of the Blackfoot (Siksikáíítsitapi) people.
Hangzhou Liangzhu Archaeological Site Administrative District Management Committee
Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, China: Dating back to about 3300-2300 BC, these ruins in the Yangtze River Basin are evidence of an early regional state in Late Neolithic China.
Courtesy Yancheng Broadcasting Television
Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China: Some of the world's most endangered bird species rest and nest on this coastline.
National Stud Farm at Kladruby nad Labem, s.p.o.
Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem, Czech Republic: Kladruber horses, a type of draft horse used in ceremonies by the Habsburg imperial court, were bred and trained here starting in 1579.
Courtesy J. Kugler
Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, Czech Republic/Germany: The Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří, or Ore Mountains, has been a source of mining from the Middle Ages onward, including silver and uranium.
Courtesy Nelly Gravier
French Austral Lands and Seas, France: Home to the largest population of King Penguins and Yellow-nosed albatrosses in the world, the French Austral Lands and Seas include the Crozet Archipelago, the Kerguelen Islands, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Islands and 60 small sub-Antarctic islands in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean.
Planinghaus architekten
The Water Management System of Augsburg, Germany: The city's water management system has evolved since its evolution from the 14th century to the present, making Augsburg a pioneer in hydraulic engineering.
Courtesy Snorri Baldursson
Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland: This volcanic region is home to 10 volcanoes, two of which are some of the most active in the country and eight of which are subglacial.
DRONAH
Jaipur City, Rajasthan, India: A fortified city, Jaipur was founded in 1727 and built according to a grid plan.
Office of Cultural Affairs, Historical Remains and Museum
Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto, Indonesia: Developed by the Netherlands' colonial government starting in the late 19th century, it consists of the mining site and company town, coal storage at the port of Emmahaven and the railway network linking the mines to the port.
Fariba Babaei
Hyrcanian Forests, Iran: These forests stretch along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, and they're home to 80 species of birds and 58 mammal species.
Courtesy Qahtan Al-Abeed
Babylon, Iraq: Located south of Baghdad, this site includes the ruins of the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire between 626 and 539 BC.
Shutterstock
Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene, Italy: The new site includes some of the wine-growing landscape of the Prosecco wine production region as well as villages, forests and farmland.
Sakai City Government
Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group/Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan: Located on a plateau above the Osaka Plain, this site is home to 49 decorated burial mounds meant for the elite. These are considered the best representatives of the Kofun period from the 3rd to the 6th century AD.
Council for Promotion of the Inscription of Confucian Academies on the World Heritage List
Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies, Republic of Korea: Located in central and southern parts of the country, the site consists of nine seowon, a type of Neo-Confucian academy of the Joseon dynasty (15th-19th centuries).
Shutterstock
Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang/Plain of Jars, Lao People's Democratic Republic: Located on a plateau in central Laos, the Plain of Jars is named for the more than 2,100 Iron Age stone jars used for funeral practices. This 15-section site dates from 500 BC to 500 AD.
Courtesy Department of Archaeology and National Museum
Bagan, Myanmar: Located near the Ayeyarwady River, Bagan has eight components in this sacred Buddhist landscape, featuring a range of Buddhist art and architecture dating to the 11th-13th centuries AD.
Courtesy K. Pęczalski/ Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region, Poland: A group of four mining sites dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (about 3900 BC to 1600 BC), the goal was mining striped flint mainly used for ax-making.
Luis Ferreira Alves/PNM
Royal Building of Mafra, Portugal: King João V conceived of this site in 1711. The building houses the king's and queen's palaces, the royal chapel, a Franciscan monastery and a library with 36,000 volumes.
João Paulo Sotto Mayor
Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga, Portugal: Designed to evoke Christian Jerusalem, the sanctuary was developed over a period of more than 600 years, primarily in a Baroque style. The Via Crucis ends at the church, which was built between 1784 and 1811.
Research and Development Centre for Conservation and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Pskov Region
Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture, Russian Federation: A group of churches and other religious buildings located in the historic city of Pskov make up this site. The structures are characteristic of the Pskov School of Architecture.
Courtesy Nacho Gonzalez
Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape, Spain: The Risco Caído landscape includes evidence of pre-Spanish settlements, whose habitats, granaries and cisterns evolved in isolation until the first Spanish settlers arrived in the 15th century.
Courtesy Anthony Holloway
Jodrell Bank Observatory, United Kingdom: Since it began being used in 1945, Jodrell Bank has become one of the world's leading radio astronomy observatories, impacting the discovery of quasars, the study of meteors, the moon and more.
Hollyhock House
The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, United States: The site is comprised of eight US buildings designed by Wright in the first half of the 20th century. These include Hollyhock House (shown here); Fallingwater (Mill Run, Pennsylvania); and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
CNN  — 

From the ruins of ancient Babylon in Iraq to the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright to the Prosecco region of northeast Italy, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee added 29 new cultural and natural sites to its World Heritage List at its annual meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The United Nations’ cultural body meets annually to approve the addition of cultural, natural and sites of mixed significance to its preservation list, which now has 1,121 sites of “outstanding universal value.”

Courtesy Snorri Baldursson
The volcanic region at Iceland's Vatnajökull National Park covers 14% of the island nation's territory.

The 2019 list includes natural sites, such as Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland; cultural sites, such as the historic city of Sheki in Azerbaijan and the archaeological ruins of Liangzhu City in southeast China; and just one mixed site this year – the Paraty and Ilha Grande in Brazil, which combines natural and cultural elements.

One of the more unusual additions was Jodrell Bank Observatory, a site in northwest England that’s home to some of the planet’s leading radio astronomy telescopes. Dating back to 1945, the observatory’s research on cosmic rays, meteors, the moon and astral phenomena are credited with expanding our understanding of the universe.

The committee also approved the extension of an existing site in Albania, the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region in North Macedonia.

Sheki: Azerbaijan's Silk Road city now a UNESCO World Heritage site

A human masterpiece or natural wonder

01:55 - Source: CNN
How many UNESCO World Heritage sites are there?

The inscribed sites have to meet one or more of 10 criteria, including “representing a masterpiece of human creative genius” or “exceptional natural beauty” or being an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement.

UNESCO has been adding sites to the World Heritage List since 1978, when the first 12 sites – including the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Yellowstone National Park in the United States and the Island of Goree in Senegal – were named to the list.

Courtesy Yancheng Broadcasting Television
Some of the world's most endangered bird species depend on the ellow Sea/Gulf of Bohai coastline to rest or nest.

A “no” vote by the committee doesn’t mean the site isn’t worthy, or it won’t get a designation in future years. Nations can spend years developing pitches for inclusion on the list, in pursuit of the cultural cachet and tourists and resources it can attract to sites in need of money for restoration and protection. Countries must convince the UNESCO committee that they will protect their sites and support them financially.

Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture added to UNESCO World Heritage List

A troubled relationship

Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
Frank Lloyd Wright's work includes the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The United States had one nomination inscribed by the committee in 2019 – the 20th-century architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright – despite the US no longer being a member of UNESCO.

In January 2019, the United States quit UNESCO, claiming the organization was anti-Israel because it had accepted a Palestinian bid for full membership and and named several places as Palestinian World Heritage sites. Israel also cut ties with the agency.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called the US withdrawal “a loss to UNESCO” in 2017, after the United States first filed its intent to depart the organization.

Exploring the world's first 12 heritage sites

World Heritage sites in danger

The Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California in Mexico were added to the List of World Heritage in Danger, which documents threats to cultural and natural sites and tries to bring attention to them.

Reggae music gets UNESCO protected status

At the same time, the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, West Bank, was removed from the endangered list. The World Heritage Committee credited the restoration carried out on the Nativity Church, the decision not to dig a tunnel under Manger Square and the management plan for the site’s conservation.

The Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works in Chile were also removed from the list, due to measures over the past 15 years to protect the site.

UNESCO’s Twitter account shared news of the new inscriptions as they were announced by the committee.

The newest World Heritage sites

Courtesy Nacho Gonzalez
The stargaizing is glorious at Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria in Spain.

Australia: Budj Bim Cultural Landscape

Azerbaijan: Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace

Bahrain: Dilmun Burial Mounds

Brazil: Paraty and Ilha Grande – Culture and Biodiversity

Burkina Faso: Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites of Burkina Faso

Canada: Writing-on-Stone/Áísínai’pi

China: Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City

China: Migratory Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China, Phase I

Czech Republic: Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem

Czech Republic/Germany: Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region

France: French Austral Lands and Seas

Germany: Water Management System of Augsburg

Iceland: Vatnajökull National Park

India: Jaipur City, Rajasthan

Indonesia: Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto

Iran: Hyrcanian Forests

Iraq: Babylon

Italy: Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano a Valdobbiadene

Japan: Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan

Republic of Korea: Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies

Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang – Plain of Jars

Myanmar: Bagan

Poland: Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region

Portugal: Royal Building of Mafra – Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park, Tapada

Portugal: Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga

Russian Federation: Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture

Spain: Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape

United Kingdom: Jodrell Bank Observatory

United States: The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright

CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report