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SOCIAL

Ten World Heritage sites in France you won’t have heard of

Ten World Heritage sites in France you won’t have heard of

This week France picked up two new World Heritage sites – the Champagne Hillsides and the Terroirs of Burgundy.
With France now boasting 41 World Heritage sites in total, The Local has decided to dig up some of the country’s least known gems that are already on the list. Here’s ten Unesco sites in France you may have never heard of. How many have you visited?

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<b>Belfries of Northern France:</b> Unesco gave the nod collectively to these 23 bell towers in northern France and one in Belgium in 1999 because they are such fine representations of the eras in which they were built. Built from the 11th to 17th centuries they also demonstrate a shift away from walled cities and towards more open urban planning.Photo: Wikimedia commons
<b>Nord-Pas de Calais coal mining area</b>: These 109 individual protected parts in northern France include slag heaps - some over 140 metres high - mining pits and coal company infrastructure that were used over 300 years to pull coal from the ground. Unesco extended heritage status to the site in 2012 in part to document the workers’ conditions and the labour rights movement it laid the groundwork for.Photo: Olibac/Flickr
<b>Le Havre:</b> After Le Havre was bombed flat in World War II, architect August Perret set out to completely redesign and reconstruct the city in northern France as part of a project that was finally completed in 1964. The result is “an innovative exploitation of the potential of concrete” and “systematic utilization of a modular grid” according to Unesco, which named it a heritage site in 2005. Needless to say, in a country of picturesque places like Paris, not everyone loves Le Havre.Photo: asdub/Flickr
<b>Gulf of Porto:</b> The crystal waters, abundant sea life, hidden inlets and rocky shorelines of this spot on the central western coast of the island of Corsica was already spectacular enough to be protected as part of a regional natural park. The site and its long beaches of fine sand and clusters of caves have been a World Heritage site since 1983. Photo: Michal Osmenda/Flickr
<b>Vézère Valley:</b> Ok so you've all heard of the world famous Lascaux cave paintings, but the Vézère valley is also home to hundreds of other remarkable prehistoric ruins. There are 147 sites in total, including 25 decorated caves, which provide a glimpse into long extinct civilizations that have been difficult for researchers to comprehend. The valley became a heritage site in 1979.Photo: EllenM/Flickr
<b>Mont Perdu:</b> The incredible mountain landscape around Mount Perdu, which straddles the French and Spanish borders, was protected by Unesco in 1997 for both its natural beauty and the refuge it provides to the nearly extinct upland way of life. In addition to the 3,352 metre peak, the designation helps preserve two of Europe’s oldest and deepest canyons which sit on the Spanish side of the site.  Photo: Giam/Flickr
<b>Vauban fortifications:</b> These 12 groups of forts, towers, walls and other structures along France’s borders are considered some of the finest works of Louis XIV’s military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. Unesco decided to protect the sites because they help tell the story of the fortification of Western Europe and other continents, which went on until the mid-19th century.Photo: Dynamosquito/Flickr
<b>Alps stilt house remains:</b> Prehistoric people drove piles into the edges of Alpine lakes in the Jura, rivers and wetlands and then built homes upon the resulting surfaces. Unesco has extended protection to 111 sites, some 56 of which are in Switzerland, since 2012 in order to preserve the exceptionally rich sites that provide a glimpse into life in prehistoric times.Photo: P.Petrequin
<b>Grande Île:</b> Surrounded by two forks of the River Ill in Strasbourg in eastern France, the Grand Île (Big island) contains a remarkable series of monuments in a rather small area. A cathedral, four ancient churches and a palace form a district that shows the development of the Alsatian capital from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Photo: Westher/Flickr
<b>Saltworks:</b> The Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains in eastern France was in operation for at least 1,200 years before it officially stopped work in 1962. Between 1780 and 1885 its network of 21 kilometres of wooden pipes carried saltwater to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, which is near Bescançon. The sites, which were named on the heritage list in 1982, show the harsh work conditions of collecting “white gold”.Photo: Jeff Pachoud/AFP


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