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New World Heritage sites in the Alps

Jul 17, 2008 / alpMedia
In July the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added another 27 cultural and natural sites to the World Heritage List, including three located in the Alpine region, namely the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona with the Glarus overthrust, the cross-border (CH/I) Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes and the fortifications of Vauban in France.
Fingelspitz
Image caption:
In the area of the Glarus overthrust, old Verrucano rock is thrust over much more recent flysch. © CIPRA International
The Glarus overthrust is a major geological attraction, with the old rock clearly to be seen lying on more recent material. At the beginning of the 20th century, this phenomenon revolutionised our understanding of orogenesis in the Alps. The Albula and Bernina routes of the Rhaetian Railway are among the world's most spectacular narrow-gauge railways. At the time they were an exciting feat of railway engineering and today remain a monument to mobility in the high alpine landscape. And the fortifications of Vauban, with two of the twelve forts chosen - Briançon und Mont Dauphin - located in the Alp, are classic examples of western military architecture and a textbook for the development of defensive systems, the different types of forts and their geographical specificities.
Sources: http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/453 (en)