Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca

Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca have developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West in the Straits of Malacca. The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible. 

With its government buildings, churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka demonstrates the early stages of this history originating in the 15th-century Malay sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch periods beginning in the early 16th century. 

Featuring residential and commercial buildings, George Town represents the British era from the end of the 18th century. The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.

Paramaribo is a former Dutch colonial town dating from the 17th and 18th centuries planted on the Northeastern coast of tropical South America. Composed of mainly wooden buildings, the plain and symmetrical architectural style illustrating the gradual fusion of Dutch and other European architectural and later North American influences as well as elements from Creole culture, reflects the multi-cultural society of Suriname. 

The historic inner city is located along the left bank of the Suriname River and is defined by the Sommelsdijkse Kreek to the north and the Viottekreek to the south. Laid out from 1683 on a grid pattern along an axis running north-west from Fort Zeelandia, the main streets follow shell ridges which provided a naturally drained base for building. At the end of the 18th century, Dutch engineering and town planning skills enabled the town to be extended over marshy land to the north. 

Important elements in the townscape are Fort Zeelandia built in 1667 and the large public park (Garden of Palms) behind it, wide, tree-lined streets and open spaces; the Presidential Palace (1730) built in stone but with a wooden upper floor, the Ministry of Finance (1841) a monumental brick structure with classical portico and clock tower, the Reformed Church (1837) in Neoclassical style, and the Gothic Revival Roman Catholic Cathedral (1885) built in wood.

Antigua, Guatemala (Spanish pronunciation: [anˈtiɣwa ɣwateˈmala]) (commonly referred to as just Antigua or la Antigua) is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish Baroque-influenced architecture as well as a number of ruins of colonial churches. It served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Antigua, Guatemala serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. It also serves as the departmental capital of Sacatepéquez Department.

Berat is a city and a municipality located in south-central Albania, and the capital of the County of Berat. In July 2008, the old town (Mangalem district) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Berat, Otllak, Roshnik, Sinjë and Velabisht, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the city Berat.The total population is 60,031 (2011 census), in a total area of 379.98 km2. The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 32,606.

Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus, Latin: Ecclesia Cathedralis Sanctorum Petri et Mariae, English: High Cathedral of Saints Peter and Mary) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, currently, since his 2014 transfer from Berlin, Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki, and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day.

DE-3304602

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Type Cultural

Criteria i, ii, iv

Designated 1995 (20th session)

Reference no. 292

State Party Germany

Region Europe

Endangered 2004–2006