My interest in Al-Andalus and what came after was first perked with the novel 'The Lions of Al-Rassan' by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay. A major theme of the novel …
Kyle Magnuson
United States of America \ Member since March 2010
#503 104 41 3
I live and work in Los Angeles, California, though I am originally from the Midwest. I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in History at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and a Master's degree in Teaching (Social Studies) from the University of Southern California (USC). As an undergraduate I completed coursework in China, Scotland, and Korea. As a member of AmeriCorps in my 20's, I provided educational services to communities throughout Los Angeles, which led to a career in Education. Today, I am a founding teacher at a middle school, where I teach United States History.
I have contributed an overabundance of information to the country page and forum for the Republic of Korea. I consider Korea to be one the great rewards for world heritage travelers. Firstly, a high number of accessible WHS reachable by efficient public transport. Secondly, excellent interpretation and management of each site, including translation. Lastly, the public awareness and domestic interest in world heritage in Korea is exceptional, including world heritage themed festivals and campaigns for aspiring nominations.
I often travel plan and create lists/goals regarding future trips. While I'm not a completist World Heritage traveller, I certainly focus on World Heritage sites when planning. Listed below are the sites I hope to visit during the next few years.
My Flickr
Next Trip December 2025: The Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda
Next Trip March 2026: La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico
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World Heritage Planning 2025-2035
Argentina/Uruguay/Brazil (9 WHS)
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier (Argentina)
- ESMA Museum and Site of Memory (Argentina)
- Cordoba (Argentina)
- Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay)
- Iguazu National Park (Argentina) *Top 100
- Iguacu (Brazil) *Top 100
- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
- Valongo Wharf (Brazil)
- Sítio Roberto Burle Marx (Brazil)
Australia (7 WHS)
- K’gari Fraser Island (Queensland)
- Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (Queensland)
- Sydney Opera House (New South Wales)
- Greater Blue Mountains Area (New South Wales)
- Australian Convict Sites (New South Wales)
- Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (Victoria)
- Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (Victoria)
Azores Portugal (1 WHS)
- Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores
Baja California Mexico (1 WHS)
- Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino
Botswana/Namibia (3 WHS)
- Okavango Delta *Top 100
- Namib Sand Sea *Top 100
- Twyfelfontein
Canada - East (9 WHS)
- Grand Pré
- Gros Morne National Park *Top 100
- Joggins Fossil Cliffs
- L'Anse aux Meadows
- Mistaken Point
- Old Québec
- Old Town Lunenburg
- Red Bay Basque Whaling Station
- Rideau Canal
Canadian Prairie Provinces (4 WHS)
- Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi
- Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
- Dinosaur Provincial Park
- The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks *Top 100
Caribbean (3 WHS)
- Historic Bridgetown (Barbados)
- Morne Trois Pitons (Dominica)
- Volcanoes and Forests of Mount Pelée and the Pitons of Northern Martinique (France)
China via Shanghai (3 WHS)
- Classical Gardens of Suzhou
- The Grand Canal
- Migratory Bird Sanctuaries
China via Shenyang (1 WHS)
- Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom
France (9 WHS)
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
- Chartres Cathedral
- The Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
- Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange
- Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge
- Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)
- Maison Carrée de Nîmes
- Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments
Ghana/South Africa via Cape Town (2 WHS)
- Forts and Castles, Central Region (Ghana) *Cape Coast/Elmina
- Cape Floral Region
- Robben Island
Gulf States (7 WHS)
- Qal'at al-Bahrain (Bahrain)
- Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain)
- Dilmun Burial Mounds (Bahrain)
- Aflaj Irrigation System (Oman)
- Bahla Fort (Oman)
- Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn (Oman)
- Al Zubarah Archaeological Site (Qatar)
India - Western Coast, Sri Lanka & Seychelles (12 WHS)
- Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai (India)
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (India)
- Elephanta Caves (India)
- Churches and Convents of Goa (India)
- Valley de Mai Nature Reserve (Seychelles)
- Sacred City of Kandy (Sri Lanka)
- Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications (Sri Lanka)
- Central Highlands (Sri Lanka)
- Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple (Sri Lanka)
- Ancient City of Sigiriya (Sri Lanka)
- Ancient City of Polonnaruwa (Sri Lanka)
- Sacred City of Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka)
Japan (9 WHS)
ICN Flight to Tokyo
- National Museum of Western Art (Le Corbusier)
- Shrines and Temples of Nikko
- Mount Fuji
- Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama
- Hiraizumi Temples and Gardens
Busan to Fukuoka Ferry
- Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region
- Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution
- Yakushima
ICN Flight to Hokkaido
- Shiretoko
Jordan (4 WHS)
- Petra *Top 100
- Umm al-Jimal
- Um er-Rasas (Kastron Mefa'a)
- Wadi Rum Protected Area
Mongolia (2 WHS)
- Deer Stone Monuments
- Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape
Nordic/Baltic Nations (9 WHS)
- Visby (Sweden)
- Karlskrona (Sweden)
- Birka and Hovgarden (Sweden)
- Fortress of Suomenlinna (Finland)
- Tallinn (Estonia) *ferry from Helsinki
- Struve Geodetic Arc - Tartu Observatory (Estonia)
Sweden via driving *Malmö to Oslo
- Grimeton Radio Station (Sweden)
- Rock Carvings in Tanum (Sweden)
Train from Oslo
- Bryggen (Norway)
Northern Mexico via driving (1 WHS)
- Nuevo Casas Grandes: Archaeological Zone of Paquimé
Rwanda/Zambia (3 WHS)
- Memorial sites of the Genocide (Rwanda)
- Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda)
- Victoria Falls *Top 100
Sicily - Malta - Tunisia (11 WHS)
- Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (Italy)
- Mount Etna (Italy)
- Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica (Italy)
- Villa Romana del Casale (Italy)
- City of Valletta (Malta)
- Megalithic Temples (Malta)
- Hal Saflieni Hypogeum (Malta)
- Isole Eolie (Italy)
- Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale (Italy)
- Medina of Tunis (Tunisia)
- Archaeological Site of Carthage (Tunisia)
Slovenia/Italy (3 WHS)
- The Works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana (Slovenia)
- Škocjan Caves (Slovenia)
- Venice (Italy) *Top 100
Southern Spain (4 WHS)
- Historic Centre of Cordoba *Top 100
- Caliphate City of Medina Azahara
- Cathedral, Alcazar and Archivo de Indias in Seville *Top 100
- Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzin, Granada *Top 100
Thailand/Cambodia (5 WHS)
- Historic City of Ayutthaya (Thailand)
- The Ancient Town of Si Thep (Thailand)
- Dong Phayayen - Khao Yai Forest Complex (Thailand)
- Angkor (Cambodia) *Top 100
- Koh Ker (Cambodia)
United Kingdom (12 WHS)
- Flow Country
- The Heart of Neolithic Orkney
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Durham Castle and Cathedral
- City of Bath
- Great Spa Towns of Europe
- Stonehenge
- Kew Gardens
- Westminster
- Tower of London
- Maritime Greenwich
- Blenheim Palace
United States/Canada (2 WHS)
- Alaska: Glacier Parks / Wrangell-St. *Top 100
- Canada: Tr’ondëk-Klondike
Yucatán Peninsula Mexico via train (6 WHS)
- Sian Ka'an
- Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza *Top 100
- Pre-Hispanic Town of Uxmal
- Historic Fortified Town of Campeche
- Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque *Top 100
- Ancient Maya City of Calakmul, Campeche *Top 100
My most impressive site: Yellowstone, Machu Picchu
Recent Visits
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96July 10, 2025Korea - Summer 2025: Ancient Mountain Fortresses in Central Korea, Capital Fortifications of Hanyang, Changdeokgung …
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41June 19, 2025Southeast Asia - Summer 2025: Bali Subak system, FRIM Selangor, Melaka and George Town ...
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50Dec. 15, 2024Spain - Christmas Season 2024: Mudejar Architecture of Aragon, Palau de la Musica Catalana & …
Top 10 Missing
About Kyle Magnuson
- Member since
- March 2010
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
Visits
- Rank
- #503
- WHS
- 104
- Tentative Sites
- 41
Website Participation
- Reviews
- 151
-
Ratings
Ratings
World Heritage Sites
- Yellowstone 5.0
- Machu Picchu 5.0
- Great Wall 5.0
- Yosemite National Park 4.5
- Chaco Culture 4.5
- Hawaii Volcanoes 4.5
- Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 4.5
- El Pinacate 4.5
- Works of Antoni Gaudí 4.5
- Grand Canyon 4.5
- Mesa Verde 4.5
- Istanbul 4.5
- Redwood 4.5
- Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing 4.5
- Gulf of California 4.5
- Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 4.5
- Gyeongju 4.5
- Taos Pueblo 4.0
- Teotihuacan 4.0
- Sintra 4.0
- Segovia 4.0
- Everglades 4.0
- Olympic National Park 4.0
- Great Smoky Mountains 4.0
- Toledo 4.0
- Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor 4.0
- Edinburgh 4.0
- Guanacaste 4.0
- Mexico City and Xochimilco 4.0
- Guanajuato 4.0
- Paris, Banks of the Seine 4.0
- Waterton Glacier International Peace Park 4.0
- Jeju 4.0
- Bali Subak system 4.0
- University of Coimbra 4.0
- Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries 4.0
- Getbol, Korean Tidal Flats 3.5
- Macao 3.5
- Vizcaya Bridge 3.5
- South China Karst 3.5
- Beijing Central Axis 3.5
- Central University City Campus of the UNAM 3.5
- Melaka and George Town 3.5
- San Miguel de Allende 3.5
- Royal Joseon Tombs 3.5
- Hahoe and Yangdong 3.5
- Al Ain 3.5
- Temple of Heaven 3.5
- Southern Öland 3.5
- Cuzco 3.5
- Mammoth Cave 3.5
- Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple 3.5
- Mount Taishan 3.5
- Statue of Liberty 3.5
- Haeinsa Temple 3.5
- Monastery of Batalha 3.5
- Convent of Christ in Tomar 3.5
- Monastery of Alcobaça 3.5
- Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius 3.5
- Versailles 3.5
- Changdeokgung Palace Complex 3.5
- El Escurial 3.5
- Willemstad 3.5
- Summer Palace 3.5
- Namhansanseong 3.5
- Cahokia Mounds 3.0
- Roskilde Cathedral 3.0
- Jongmyo Shrine 3.0
- Hwaseong Fortress 3.0
- Gaya Tumuli 3.0
- Independence Hall 3.0
- Lima 3.0
- Querétaro 3.0
- Baroque Churches 3.0
- Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 3.0
- Aranjuez 3.0
- Belem 3.0
- Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream 3.0
- Par force hunting landscape 3.0
- Baekje Historic Areas 3.0
- Singapore Botanic Gardens 3.0
- Forth Bridge 3.0
- Seowon, Neo-Confucian Academies 3.0
- Carlsbad Caverns 3.0
- Mudejar Architecture of Aragon 3.0
- Monticello 3.0
- Kronborg Castle 3.0
- Imperial Tombs 3.0
- Grand Canal 3.0
- San Antonio Missions 3.0
- Moravian Church Settlements 3.0
- Faya Palaeolandscape 2.5
- New Lanark 2.5
- Hopewell 2.5
- Poverty Point 2.5
- Drottningholm 2.5
- Skogskyrkogarden 2.5
- Nice 2.5
- Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa Dolmen 2.5
- FRIM Selangor 2.5
- Mafra 2.5
Tentative Sites
- Sites of the Busan Wartime Capital
- Pombaline Lisbon
- Rural Temples of Cusco
- Ellis Island
- Lake Titicaca
- Sites of fossilized dinosaurs
- Civil Rights Movement Sites
- Capital Fortifications of Hanyang
- City of York
- Sharjah: the Gate to Trucial States
- Hoeamsa Temple
- Getbol, Korean Tidal Flats (Extension)
- Stone Buddhas and Pagodas at Hwasun Unjusa Temple
- The Padang Civic Ensemble
- Naganeupseong
- Rade de Marseille
- Brooklyn Bridge
- California Current Conservation Complex
- Central Park
- Early Chicago Skyscrapers
- Petrified Forest National Park
- White Sands National Monument
- El Nido-Taytay Protected Area
- Mt. Soraksan Nature Reserve
- Upo Wetland
- Nuruosmaniye Complex
- Amalienborg and its district
- Plantations in West Curacao
- Mount Vernon
- Chapultepec Woods, Hill and Castle
- Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
- Kangjingun Kiln Sites
- Walled City of Manila
- Thomas Jefferson Buildings
- The Rise of Systematic Biology
- D-Day Landing Beaches, Normandy, 1944
- Khor Dubai
- Ancient Mountain Fortresses in Central Korea
- Mleiha
- Oeam Village
- 101 40
- Locations
- 92
- Zones
- 0
Reviews by Kyle Magnuson
Mudejar Architecture of Aragon (Inscribed)
Zaragoza just before Christmas
Palau de la Musica Catalana &… (Inscribed)
Performance at the Palau de la Musica Catalana
From the Sagrada Familia station its a pleasant walk to the Hospital de Sant Pau via the Av. de Gaudí. Self-guided tours within Sant Pau are now €17 and can …
Works of Antoni Gaudí (Inscribed)
Gaudí's Magnum Opus
Careful planning informed my visit to all the major Antoni Gaudí sites in and around Barcelona (including non-inscribed Gaudí buildings like Casa Figueres "Bellesguard"). All tickets were reserved well in …
Gulf of California (Inscribed)
Island of San Jorge and the Upper Gulf Region
On my 3rd road trip to Sonora, Mexico from Los Angeles I decided to reserve a boat tour to Isla San Jorge, part of the 'Islands and Protected Areas of …
Beijing Central Axis (Inscribed)
An Imperial Axis Still . . .
With the Beijing Central Axis joining the World Heritage List, I want to focus on what is newly inscribed. Therefore, in this review I will not include any information about …
Capital Fortifications of Han… (Nominated)
Bukhansanseong
Since this nomination expanded, I thought I would write a review specifically for Bukhansanseong (about 12 km wall length). I visited Bukhansanseong (Mountain Fortress) in the Summer of 2008. I …
Guanacaste (Inscribed)
The Natural Wonders of Guanacaste Province
I dedicated 3 days to exploring the Area de Conservación Guanacaste in March 2024. Every day we made sure to arrive at the park gate when it opened at 8am …
Guanajuato (Inscribed)
Synchronously Alluring Art, Architecture, Music, and Food
Clearly, based on the reviews thus far there is no need to go into the magic of Guanajuato! The music of the Callejoneada, the beautiful plazas (personal favorite, Plaza de …
San Miguel de Allende (Inscribed)
The Heart of Mexico
One does wonder walking in San Miguel de Allende if each gallery and restaurant is trying to outdo the other to impress potential customers. The ambience, the decor, the presentation …
Querétaro (Inscribed)
Appreciating Querétaro, the Case for the City
Querétaro does not exhibit the type of intact historic core as experienced in San Miguel de Allende and therefore is rightly or wrongly judged as inferior. As a visitor, I …
Sharjah: the Gate to Trucial … (On tentative list)
Aviation Angle?
There are so few world heritage sites connected to Aviation. Ideally this nomination will eventually evolve into a transnational nomination with the UK, the UAE, Singapore, and other nations where …
Mleiha (On tentative list)
Desert Excursion - Partially Inscribed
You might wonder why Mleiha has become an increasingly promoted excursion from Sharjah/Dubai? The interpretation and programing at Mleiha is exceptional. In February 2023, four new tentative nominations emerged from …
Faya Palaeolandscape (Inscribed)
Paleoenvironmental and Archaeological Potential
ICOMOS called this nomination 'premature' and of 'potential importance'. I suppose the UAE was not satisfied with waiting and thus campaigned hard toward inscription.
I have little experience in visiting …
Al Ain (Inscribed)
The Oases Areas of Al Ain
After visiting the archaeological sites around Mleiha, I was not keen on searching out more of them in Al Ain, particularly since the sites in Al Ain range through various …
Khor Dubai (On tentative list)
Historical Fraud? Not Entirely!
In the dwindling chance Dubai Creek is inscribed, I will seek to plot out the best use of your time over 2 days. After visiting "Khor Dubai" I have to …
City of York (Nominated)
A Day in York
"Eoferwic was, and still is, the chief city of northern Englaland. It possesses a great abbey, an archbishop, a fortress, high walls, and a vast market. It stands beside the …
Sites of the Busan Wartime Ca… (On tentative list)
1,023 Days
For those who have visited Busan, you can be forgiven for not prioritizing its wartime history! The fact is, Busan is a lively city and its main attractions (Taejongdae, Jagalchi …
Willemstad (Inscribed)
Four Historic Urban Districts
Having 4 days and 4 nights in Curaçao allowed my spouse and I ample time to explore Historic Willemstad and the island as a whole. Using Els' neatly compiled list …
Plantations in West Curacao (On tentative list)
Potential for Transnational Slavery Nomination
Despite my downward vote for the "The Plantations in West Curaçao" tentative site, this reflects more my support for a transnational nomination rather than several dozen individual nominations. I visited …
Petrified Forest National Park (On tentative list)
The Painted Desert
After my first visit years previously, we spent the majority of time viewing the petrified wood in the Southern section of the park, though we did make it to the …