EnglishThe World Heritage - a challenge for humanity
The campaign to save Abu-Simbel was the first step towards the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. This international treaty is based on the revolutionary idea to entrust humanity with the protection and preservation of outstanding cultural achievements and unique natural phenomena that are of outstanding universal value. The World Heritage Convention is a unique success story.
The World Heritage List includes 890 sites, of which 689 are cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed. They are located in 148 countries.
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Monte San Giorgio
This pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain between the southern arms of Lake Lugano is the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period (230-245 million years ago), when a lagoon covered the area. The long history of study of the site, and the disciplined management of the resource have created a well documented and catalogued body of specimens of exceptional quality - fish, ammonites, crustaceans but also reptiles, insects and plants. Monte San Giorgio provides the principal point of reference, relevant to future discoveries of marine Triassic remains throughout the world.