First published: Sun 29 Jun 2025.
Els Slots
Updated Tentative Lists H1 2025
Comments
6 comments
Twobaconsandaboston
1 week, 3 days ago (Jun 29, 2025)
I have not digested each site yet to determine if any in particular stand out to me, other than potentially mapping out my visit list. I do note though that both Kuwait and Somalia have continued to add to their tentative lists whilst each of them have yet to have an inscribed site. It may have been covered in other blogs (which I have not found) but is there a trend to prioritise countries nominations that do not have any inscribed sites, similar to the policy (it appears) of prioritising sites in conflict zones? And further I would wonder why each state party does not progress existing TWHS to get their first inscribed site, rather than just adding to the Tentative List? There are only 28 State Parties out of 196 to the WHC that have no inscribed sites.
Reply
Els Slots
1 week, 3 days ago (Jun 29, 2025)
Hi Twobaconsandaboston! There is indeed a strategy to give preference to countries that have not yet had a site inscribed. Within the yearly maximum of 35 new WHS to be discussed, they get a higher priority than the 61st site of Italy. However, this system does not work very well as (a) often there are fewer than 35 new candidates, so no prioritization has to take place, and (b) the 'new' countries often submit dossiers that are either incomplete or lacking (because they are inexperienced or don't have much budget).
Els Slots
1 week, 3 days ago (Jun 29, 2025)
And regarding "why each state party does not progress existing TWHS to get their first inscribed site, rather than just adding to the Tentative List?" - in my earlier blog post The Value of a TWHS https://www.worldheritagesite.org/blog/id/498 I suggested that "These unrealistically long T Lists seem to serve mostly a domestic purpose: getting on a Tentative List is already a prize for some local or regional authority within a large country."
nan
1 week, 3 days ago (Jun 29, 2025)
Yep: Adding to a tentative list is a virtue of itself. Turkey shows Tentative Sites on Location as Unesco sites.
Personally, I dont mind long tentative lists if the tentative sites are worthwhile. At least, in Turkey I found most of the tentative sites I visisted pretty great on their own merit. It's just that they are up for tough competition from the prior Turkish inscriptions.
Twobaconsandaboston
1 week, 3 days ago (Jun 29, 2025)
Thank you for your insight. Agree, there certainly large Tentative lists and I can see the local advantage of such. Some more to add to the planning.
Ian Cade
1 week, 2 days ago (Jun 29, 2025)
I had completely missed the Qatar National Museum.
It looks really interesting and I think something that does actually reflect the culture and financial power of the 21st century.