Stumbled upon by a teenager and his dog in the 1940s, the Lascaux cave in southwest France’s Vézère valley region is filled with remarkable prehistoric paintings and engravings that are over 17,000 years-old. It was opened to the public but closed in 1963 in order to preserve the ancient art. Hordes of tourists had began to take their toll on the priceless walls, with the heat, humidity and carbon dioxide they brought with them threatening to damage the paintings. Mould and lichen had begun forming on the artwork in alarming levels.
The paintings were restored and a monitoring program is in place, but the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains closed to preserve its integrity. While visitors are not permitted into the original cave complex, various replicas allow people to experience the incredible prehistoric artwork of horses, deer and mammoths. A spectacular full-scale replica at Le Centre International de l'Art Pariétal, complete with recreated cave atmosphere, was opened in Montignac in 2016.
Tasmania is celebrated for its tangle of temperate rainforests and wild rivers but in the 1970s they were under serious threat. Government plans to flood part of the Franklin River to create a dam would have drowned some of its native forest and reduced critical wildlife habitats. The plan divided public opinion leading to mass protests and years of wrangling. In 1983 incoming prime minister Bob Hawke pledged to stop the dam. In 1982, the World Heritage Committee included the Western Tasmanian Wilderness National Parks into the World Heritage List – the area covered was later extended.
Another controversial dam project raged in Egypt in the 1960s. A dam on the Nile, just south of the city of Aswan, threatened to drown many priceless antiquities of the Nubian Valley including the rock-hewn twin temples of Abu Simbel. UNESCO launched its first-ever collaborative international rescue effort to save the monuments of ancient Nubia. A plan was made to move entire sites piece by monumental piece to higher ground – pictured here is the cavity in the original rock face after the temples had been dismantled and moved to a new site.
A Sydney landmark narrowly escaped demolition after a successful campaign to preserve it. The Sirius building, a 1970s public housing complex in Millers Point, was at danger due to redevelopment. The Brutalist icon was placed on the World Monuments Watch list in 2018 and a strong public campaign launched to save it and see it receive heritage status. While the status was not granted, in 2019 the state government announced that Sirius would be refurbished rather than demolished. These incredible landmarks are in danger of disappearing.
A bitterly fought battle to save one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world, Hasankefy, from being flooded by a controversial new dam has been unsuccessful. But in a glimmer of hope, several of the city’s ancient relics have been saved by the Turkish government. This includes the 800-year-old Artuklu Hamam. In a strenuous operation, the bathhouse was wheeled out of the ill-fated city, which is carved into a plateau of the Tigris River in southeastern Anatolia.
Another one of the eight historical monuments to be saved from the Ilısu Dam project was the town’s 15th-century Zeynel Bey Mausoleum. It was relocated to an open-air museum near New Hasankeyf, where some of the displaced residents are being reluctantly relocated as the rising river submerges their home. Sadly the colossal dam project will drown numerous Neolithic caves in the area and the ruins of a 900-year-old bridge, which are among other significant historical sites of the ancient Silk Road settlement.
Lying off Belize’s Caribbean coastline, the Belize Barrier Reef is the world’s second largest barrier reef system. With hundreds of mangrove cays and sandy islands around the reef and its atolls, it's home to endangered species such as marine turtles, manatees and the American marine crocodile, and stunning corals. However, the UNESCO World Heritage site was inscribed on the In Danger list for almost 10 years due to the irreversible damage caused by harmful coastal construction and oil exploration.
In a remarkable turnaround, the extraordinarily diverse ecosystem was removed from the list in 2018 after a series of landmark conservation measures were enacted by Belize’s government. These included becoming the first country in the world to put a moratorium on all offshore oil exploration and drilling in their waters. It extended its no-fishing zones and announced a ban on single-use plastic and styrofoam products in 2019. While climate change remains a constant threat, the reef is enjoying the benefits of better protection.
A striking ancient extinct volcano, Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa. With its forested middle slopes, lower lying foothills and surrounding savannahs, the national park has a high biodiversity. It also lies along the migrating route of the African elephant population. UNESCO inscribed the park in 1997 after serious concerns around illegal logging and marijuana cultivation were addressed by local authorities. Increased patrols, community awareness projects and training of forest guards improved the management and integrity of the site.
Remarkably, the beautiful mountain shrine escaped damage after a huge boulder got stuck behind it and diverted most of the water from hitting the building. It’s not the first time the temple has faced extreme weather – according to a study by geologists, it survived being buried under the snow for almost 400 years. They point to several yellow lines which were formed by glaciers. It’s thought the temple and neighbouring area was entirely covered in snow from the 1400s to 1700s, a period known as the Little Ice Age.
In a landmark decision, the Thai government closed one of its most celebrated beaches in 2018. Idyllic Maya Bay in the Phi Phi Islands went from a tranquil and pristine beach to world-famous landmark after it appeared in The Beach, Danny Boyle’s 2000 movie adaptation of Alex Garland’s novel. At its peak 5,000 to 6,000 people flocked to the sands daily and an estimated 80% of the bay’s coral was destroyed due to pollution from tourism. Discover other natural wonders facing a perilous future.
The beach was scheduled to be closed for a few months but this was later adjusted to an indefinite closure to allow time for its ecosystem to recover. According to recent speculation, Maya Bay could reopen in November 2020. Marine biologists have worked to restore the coral and various steps have been taken to help preserve the environment. These include capping future visitor numbers and the construction of an elevated boardwalk from Loh Samah Bay where there will be a pier to stop boats from mooring on the beach. It’s a far cry from the untouched beach that Maya once was but a step in the right direction to protect the fragile beauty spot.
The world’s oldest bridge, found in Tello in southern Iran, is to be preserved for future generations, thanks to an emergency heritage management project led by the British Museum. The so-called bridge at Tello, which was rediscovered in 1929, was built in the third millennium BC at the entrance of the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu (pictured here). It was more than 130 feet (40m) long, up to 32 feet (10m) wide and built of mud-fired bricks. Now a team of British Museum archaeologists and Iraqi heritage professionals are being trained to protect the bridge and other ancient sites in the region that have been damaged by the Islamic State.
Significant buildings associated with the historic civil rights movement in the US were granted official protection by the National Park Service in 2017. Five sites in Birmingham, Alabama, were officially dedicated as National Historic Monuments by President Obama, ensuring their integrity. They were the Kelly Ingram Park, the A.G. Gaston Motel, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Bethel Baptist Church, and 16th Street Baptist Church (pictured). Discover more of America's most important National Monuments.
But after a successful campaign, fronted by the poet Sir John Betjeman, St Pancras was given Grade 1 listed status in 1967 just days before its demolition date. The station continued to be neglected until it was redeveloped in 1996 as the home of the new high-speed Eurostar service. The restored station was officially opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2007, complete with a bronze statue of its saviour Betjeman sitting on the upper level. Take a look at more famous landmarks that were almost destroyed.
Borocay was closed for a six-month rehabilitation period which included a major rubbish clear up and upgrades to sewerage. It reopened with some strict measures in place to help safeguard the resort. While the process is ongoing, it's hoped restrictions on numbers and various other sustainability measures, including the ban of single-use plastic items and no-smoking or drinking policies on its beaches, will limit environmental damage and preserve Boracay’s undeniable beauty.
As ferocious bushfires raged across parts of Australia in early 2020, a covert mission was undertaken to save a secret grove of Wollemi pines. According to reports, firefighters in New South Wales were enlisted by the local government to save the rare species which are protected in a remote grove somewhere within the Wollemi National Park. The precious prehistoric pines were thought to be extinct until they were discovered here in 1994. The mission, which involved water-bombing aircraft and winching a team down to set up an irrigation system, was successful.
With its colourful, ornate façades and thatched fishing cottages, Barrio del Cabanyal-Canyamelar is full of character. But the old fisherman’s quarter, near Valencia’s port, was put in jeopardy when a new road project linking the city's centre with the port threatened to a demolish a large part of it. The neighbourhood was added to the World Monuments Watch list in 2012 and thankfully a decision was taken to stop the project. The local council has since announced that €22 million (£20 million/$26 million) will go to rehabilitate the neglected area.
People power came to the rescue of a swath of wilderness in British Colombia set to be deforested in 2019. The sterling community effort, spearheaded by the B.C. Parks Foundation, saw $3 million (£1.7 million/$2.2 million USD) crowdfunded which allowed the charity to buy the land in Princess Louisa Inlet, northwest of Vancouver, from a private owner. The long-term plan for the site, which covers over 1,000 hectares of rugged wilderness, is to transfer the land to BC Parks so it can join surrounding parks to become a vast provincial park around the entire inlet.
UNESCO launched an international safeguarding campaign in 1972 to restore Indonesia’s remarkable Buddhist temple Borobudur. Constructed in the 8th and 9th centuries, during the reign of the Syailendra Dynasty in central Java, the vast mound-like structure was abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle. Hidden by vegetation and volcanic ash, it was brought to the attention of the British ruler of Java, Sir Thomas Raffles, in 1814. A successful restoration of the dilapidated temple was completed in 1983 followed by another in 2010 after the eruption of Mount Merapi did further damage.