UNESCO Adds 26 Sites to World Heritage List, From German Castles to African Rainforests
Scott LairdJuly 14, 2025
Including first-time list entries for Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named 26 new sites to the World Heritage List, including Germany’s Palaces of Ludwig II of Bavaria, the largest and most well-known of which is popularly referred to as Neuschwanstein Castle.
The picturesque 19th-century castle is tucked near a lake in the Bavarian Alps, and has in recent years served as a sort of boilerplate for any fairy tale castle design—so much so in fact that Disney used it as a reference when constructing the fairy tale castle that would serve as a centerpiece of their first theme park, Disneyland, which opened in 1955.
Neuschwanstein was built in honor of the composer Richard Wagner, beginning in 1869, by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It hadn’t been completed by the time the king died in 1886, and it was opened to the public shortly afterwards. Several other European palaces are included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, including the Palace of Schönbrunn, the Palace of Versailles, and the former Papal Palace in Avignon.
In addition to Neuschwanstein, the World Heritage entry also includes Ludwig’s properties, Linderhof Palace and Herrenchiemsee. In the designation, UNESCO described the palaces as “Drawing inspiration from the Wartburg Castle, Versailles, German fairy tales, and Wagner’s operas, the palaces showcase historicist styles and advanced 19th-century techniques.”
“The inclusion of the palaces on the World Heritage List is an outstanding honor for these impressive palaces,” the President of Germany’s UNESCO commission, Maria Böhmer, said in a statement following the World Heritage Commission in Paris. “They are all architectural masterpieces and bear witness to the artistic imagery, but also the eccentricity of the fairy tale king.”
A total of 26 new sites were added to the list this year during the session of the World Heritage Committee. Among the new sites include those of both cultural and natural value in Cameroon, Malawi, United Arab Emirates, Australia, China, India, Cambodia, Iran, Malaysia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Vietnam, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Italy, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama, North Korea, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Guineau-Bissau, Laos, Denmark, and Brazil.
Four of the World Heritage sites this year are in Africa, with first-time list entries for Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau. In 2023, the committee recognized that only 10% of the sites in the world were in Sub-Saharan Africa, noting that “this figure highlights our shared responsibility to make more room to the rich heritage of this region.” It was also noted that Sub-Saharan Africa is overrepresented on the agency’s companion list of World Heritage in Danger, and the committee then set a goal of removing half of those sites by 2029.
In Sierra Leone, the site is the Gola-Tiwai Complex, which includes Gola Rainforest National Park and Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, a biodiversity hotspot in the Upper Guinean Forest. The site hosts more than 1,000 plant species, including 113 endemic to the region, and 55 mammals, of which 19 are globally threatened, including the African Forest Elephant and Pygmy Hippopotamus.
In Guinea-Bissau, the site is the Coastal and Marina Ecosystems of the Bijagós Archipelago–Omatí Minhô, another biodiverse site home to Green and Leatherback turtles, manatees, dolphins, and a wealth of migratory shorebirds. The site is also described as a globally important nesting site for sea turtles.
UNESCO World Heritage designations are judged by the agency to contain “cultural and natural heritage” and are “considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.” Nearly half the sites are in Europe or North America. Italy has the most, with 61 designations, followed by China with 60.
The first World Heritage sites were designated by UNESCO in 1978 and included the Galápagos Islands, Mesa Verde National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Island of Gorée, and Aachen Cathedral.
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