# Historic Cities or Towns that should've been UNESCO Heritage Sites if they weren't destroyed by recent wars, calamities, or human causes



## OtAkAw (Aug 5, 2004)

We all know about the incredible wealth of built-up heritage in cities like Kyoto in Japan, Paris in France, Prague in the Czech Republic, or Quito in Ecuador. These cities, along with many others have their historic centers or at times, the entire city itself, declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

These incredible places have withstood many years of wars, conflict, calamities, and other human-caused destruction and are now a testament to human ingenuity. While others, like the Old Town of Warsaw were able to recover from an almost total destruction, many others did not. 

1. *Historic Center of Dresden, Germany*

With its great wealth of Baroque-style architecture and numerous world-renowned museums and art collections, the German city of Dresden has been called "Elbflorenz" (Florence of the Elbe) by many. But this gem of a city was completely annihilated in World War 2 after massive carpet bombing by the Allies. 









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden#/media/File:Dresden_photochrom2.jpg









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresd...iv_Bild_183-Z0309-310,_Zerstörtes_Dresden.jpg

While Dresden is actively being renovated, the Frauenkirche being one of the finest examples of architectural restoration, the glory of the old city was forever gone after the war, especially with the many modern buildings that were built in replacement of the irreparably damaged ones.

The entire Dresden Elbe Valley used to be a WHS but it was delisted after the construction of a bridge that impacted its cultural integrity.

2. *Historic Center and Monuments of Tokyo, Japan*

The capital of Japan has been always sort of a phoenix throughout history. Destroyed and reborn almost entirely everytime. Two of history's most destructive cataclysms have impacted the city: the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and World War 2. 

The ancient city of Edo, Tokyo's old name was destroyed during the course of these calamities, prime heritage sites include the Edo Castle, which was the largest castle ever built in Japan. Only portions of it remain today.









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_Castle#/media/File:Kyosai_Kiyomitsu_001.jpg

Incredible old Edo, just like in anime!









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo#/media/File:Edo_Panorama_old_Tokyo_color_photochrom.jpg

After the Great Kanto Earthquake, Japan quickly rebuilt itself with the modern architectural styles prevalent in the early 90's. But most of this wouldn't remain standing, especially after something like this:










3. *Historic Center of Manila, Philippines*

Manila before the war used to be home to the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture in the world, the only one of its kind in the Far East. The largest concentration of which can be found within Intramuros, the old walled district built in the city. 

Intramuros, photo taken from on top of the Manila Hotel, 1930s? by John Tewell, on Flickr

While many of the city's colonial sisters like Mexico City, Lima, Cuzco, San Juan (Puerto Rico), and Havana to name a few have all been inscribed into UNESCO's list, Manila suffered the worst death after World War 2. She never recovered.

Aerial photo of Manila, Philippines Jan. 15, 1926, 4 PM by John Tewell, on Flickr

Much of Manila was destroyed because of the bombing and fighting between American and Japanese forces in World War 2.

Americans entering Intramuros during the Battle for Manila, Philippines late Feb. 1945 by John Tewell, on Flickr

After the war, rehabilitation of the old districts didn't push through and given the state of the Philippines economy and the lack of heritage awareness among Filipino citizens, Manila's old soul is gone forever.



What other cities or towns could've been inscribed on UNESCO's list if they weren't destroyed? Let's focus on the ones recently destroyed.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

If I could travel back in time I'd love to visit the London of pre- Great Fire times. Must have been an incredible city. Not surehow much of it would have survived to our times even without the Great Fire, though.


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## ssiguy2 (Feb 19, 2005)

Dresden was the first city to came to mind.


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## 009 (Nov 28, 2007)

Dresden seems like a decent choice


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## Fro7en (May 23, 2015)

alexandru.mircea said:


> If I could travel back in time I'd love to visit the London of pre- Great Fire times. Must have been an incredible city. Not surehow much of it would have survived to our times even without the Great Fire, though.


OH I so agree with you. I was just thinking that. London must have been amazing pre ww2 too.


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## OtAkAw (Aug 5, 2004)

alexandru.mircea said:


> If I could travel back in time I'd love to visit the London of pre- Great Fire times. Must have been an incredible city. Not surehow much of it would have survived to our times even without the Great Fire, though.


You are in luck! Some talented 3D artists from Crytek have created this impressive 3D representation of pre-Great Fire, Seventeenth-century London. And you're right. It is incredible.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

^yeah I saw it, it is one of the reasons behind my post. 

@Fro7en: by WW2 a lot of mediaeval London had already been demolished by the Victorians, check out the Lost London thread.


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## Fro7en (May 23, 2015)

alexandru.mircea said:


> ^yeah I saw it, it is one of the reasons behind my post.
> 
> @Fro7en: by WW2 a lot of mediaeval London had already been demolished by the Victorians, check out the Lost London thread.


True but a lot of the 19th century buildings were lost in the WW2 as well. And thos buildings were nice...


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Just some notes to the OP, Edo castle was the largest castle ever built ( in the world, not just in Japan). It was made up of 5 concentric rings of
defences designed to confuse and trap invaders, and the complex larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing I think. 



























t would have taken up the park area below, and some:

















At the time (18th Century - early 19th, Japan was vying with Beijing as the world's largest city).










It had recently been rebuilt after the disastrous 1657 Great Meireki Fire that had destroyed 300 palaces, 500 temples, 9000 shops, 61 bridges and
killing 100,000 people. After that the epic disasters that befell the city would become known as the 'Flowers of Edo', averaging every 20 years right
until the 1945 air raids that became the worlds worst (180,000 died).



































Also Manila was the world's second most destroyed city in WWII (after Warsaw), where 100,000 died as both the Allies and Japanese bombed it to bits.

More pics:


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Pre WWII London - almost everything in this half of the centre was obliterated in the war, what would have become
the 'Old City' had it survived (the oldest and densest tract of the capital).











http://heritagecalling.files.wordpress.com


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Another contender would be Beijing, back in the 19th Century would have been home to the world's two largest palaces, the largest gardens, and
the largest city fortifications (aswell as being the world's largest city).





































































thousands of pailou gates marked the streets

















and many areas held strict height limits creating a vast village feel that created the winding lanes and courtyard houses of the hutongs
'as fine and multitudinous as the hairs of a cow', which nurtured thriving communities



























The large gate at Qianmen marked the entrance from the peripheral Chinese City (in effect a Chinatown in China) to the Tatar City ruled by the
Manchurians, Mongols and Tibetans











The great dividing wall between the Chinese areas to the south and the elite minorities to the north:










the Imperial City enjoyed far more space with pavilions, minor palaces (marked by imperial yellow rooves), temples and gardens centred on two
massive palace complexes, the Winter Palace (aka the Imperial Palace Museum today, or the Forbidden City), and the 'Sea Palaces' compound
surrounding the vast manmade lakes.










whilst the Chinese peripherals were crammed











Beijing even had a few cathedral complexes:













in the north the Old Summer Palace was a vast enclosed compound made of hundreds of manmade lakes, hills, pavilions and buildings covering 860
acres. It took 3,500 British and French troops 3 days to burn the place down


























By the 1860s China had been wrecked by the worlds' second bloodiest conflict as the Chinese fought for self rule from the Manchurian dynasty,
culminating in the worlds' worst civil war (that had annihilated almost all of China's great classical cities), then invaded by the colonial powers
quick to spot the weak point and win treaty ports.

Nanjing ('Southern Capital'), the southern equal to Beijing ('Northern Capital'), burns in a battle that claims 200,000 lives - just one of 700 other cities destroyed in the heartland:










The Imperial City in Beijing was destroyed in 1900 by Western troops, along with 28 temple complexes that once marked the centre as a great
religious centre and pilgrimage destination (and the newly rebuilt Summer Palace complex at a different site was once again looted and burned).


























the New Summer Palace (since restored) originally had 3000 buildings, pavilions and bridges










In 1911 the Qing Dynasty fell and China became a republic. In typical Chinese tradition with regime change came destruction - 3000 palaces and
temples that once marked the city had been reduced to only 300 by 1930. The great city walls, 50ft high, 65 ft thick, 70 km long and 530 years old
- once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World for their huge size and castle-sized gates - were bulldozed in the 1960s to make way for the metro and the first ringroad.



























The 3,250 old hutong streets have been reduced to about 1000 today.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Indian cities before the Raj

Madurai





















Gwalior




















Datia










Maheshwar











Mathura





























Burhanpur











Thiruannamalai










Lucknow










(in ruins after the British siege)




















Ranpur






























Udaipur





























Lashkar detail of middle class (merchant) houses




















Kolhapur


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

more:

Hardwar



















Junagadh











Patna




















Tanjore



















Hyderabad










1930s










Old Delhi




















































































just before the British siege






















imperial Agra


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Rio de Janeiro before the usual modernist makeover. Pretty much the most beautiful city in the world imo


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

The historic city of Bam, Iran before and after the 2003 earthquake that killed 26,000


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## OtAkAw (Aug 5, 2004)

Hi spliff fairy, incredible inputs as usual. I am completely blown away by your posts on Japan, India, and China. It looks like China has suffered monumental destruction of heritage through the course of history.

I'm curious with India though, you mentioned "before the Raj", does this mean that the British Empire is singlehandedly responsible for the destruction of Indian heritage cities?


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

- edit


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Seoul, before its destruction in the Korean War. An uneasy mix of traditional Korean hanbok, medieval fortifications and colonial Japanese
architecture (that partly destroyed the cities 5 glittering palaces), mixed with European styled churches and villas, and international art deco/
early modernism.













































































































































The palace












The city was destroyed in the Korean War of the 1950s, the scene of 5 battles and changing hands 4x


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

^goodness me, the palace complex looked incredible.


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## Ulpia-Serdica (Oct 24, 2011)

A lot of these places went through war or natural disasters so their destruction is understandable....Rio de Janeiro on the other hand just makes no sense whatsoever.


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## Fro7en (May 23, 2015)

the spliff fairy said:


> Pre WWII London - almost everything in this half of the centre was obliterated in the war, what would have become
> the 'Old City' had it survived (the oldest and densest tract of the capital).
> 
> 
> ...



All I can say about this is WOW. It looked so beautiful back then. That layout reminds me A LOT of Paris back before the second world war. Man what a LOSS. Glad to see London is back and strong though. I've been looking for photos of London pre WW2 everywhere and never found something like this!!! If anyone has anymore London photos pre WW2 PLEASE post. I find London so different back then.


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## Eric Offereins (Jan 1, 2004)

^^ This looks very similar to Rotterdam, Warsaw or Dresden after the war. Such a shame they deliberately targeted urban centres back then. A lot of cultural heritage has been lost.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

nother one of The City of London, 1890


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## djbowen (Aug 22, 2007)

Here's a few more (in descending order of World Heritage likelihood):

Pyramids of Tenochtitlan, Mexico (colonialism and redevelopment)









Baltic City of Kaliningrad, Russia (cause of destruction: war)



















Pirate city of Port Royal, Jamaica (earthquakes)









Filipino stilt villages of Louisiana, USA (hurricanes and economic obsolescence)









Colonial city of Managua, Nicaragua (earthquake and urban planning)









Imperial city of Benin, Nigeria (colonialism)









Hamar Weyne, Mogadishu (war)









Historic center of Hong Kong, China (war and redevelopment)

















Baroque Narva, Estonia (war)









Old Dhaka, Bangladesh (neglect and later redevelopment)









Yoruba city of Oyo, Nigeria (war)









Historic district of Klara, Stockholm (urban planning)


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## Fro7en (May 23, 2015)

^^ Russian cities really became ugly after the second world war.


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## djbowen (Aug 22, 2007)

Historic Metropolis of Tokyo, Japan - a wonderful mixture of European, American, and Asian styles with a large concentration of Art Deco.

Survived earthquakes, WWII firebombing, and Godzilla movies. Suffered the death of a thousand cuts by nondescript architecture.


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## djbowen (Aug 22, 2007)

Fro7en said:


> ^^ Russian cities really became ugly after the second world war.


Agreed. If Russia had treated Kaliningrad/Königsberg the same way Poland had treated Warsaw (reconstructed it) it would probably be at least as magnificent as Vyborg, if not St. Petersburg.


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## Rev Stickleback (Jun 23, 2009)

djbowen said:


> Historic Metropolis of Tokyo, Japan - a wonderful mixture of European, American, and Asian styles with a large concentration of Art Deco.
> 
> Survived earthquakes, WWII firebombing, and Godzilla movies. Suffered the death of a thousand cuts by nondescript architecture.


You don't need to mourn the loss of that building, at least. Unless they've bulldozed it in the last couple of weeks, it's still there.


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## Храбър (Sep 16, 2015)

OtAkAw said:


> You are in luck! Some talented 3D artists from Crytek have created this impressive 3D representation of pre-Great Fire, Seventeenth-century London. And you're right. It is incredible.


This realy was incredible!


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