Golden Mountains of Altai
The site is in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia in the territory of the Altai Republic, comprising the high mountainous areas of Altai, the headwaters of the Katun and Chulyshman rivers and Lake Teletskoye. The World Heritage site consists of three separate areas: Altaisky Zapovednik and a buffer zone around Lake Teletskoye; Katunsky Zapovednik and a buffer zone around Mount Belukha; and the Ukok Quiet Zone on the Ukok Plateau. Two of the areas are located along the borders with China and Mongolia.
Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley)
Wadi Al-Hitan, Whale Valley, in the Western Desert of Egypt, contains invaluable fossil remains of the earliest, and now extinct, suborder of whales, Archaeoceti. These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal. This is the most important site in the world for the demonstration of this stage of evolution. It portrays vividly the form and life of these whales during their transition.
Nestled at the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan has a particularly rich flora and fauna and is home to one of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinoceros and is also one of the last refuges of the Bengal Tiger. Chitwan National Park (CNP), established in 1973, was Nepal’s first National Park. Located in the Southern Central Terai of Nepal, it formerly extended over the foothills, the property covers an area of 93,200 hectares, extends over four districts: Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Parsa and Makwanpur.
Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan
Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan comprises two protected areas: Naurzum State Nature Reserve and Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve totalling 450,344 ha. It features wetlands of outstanding importance for migratory water birds, including globally threatened species, among them the extremely rare Siberian white crane, the Dalmatian pelican, Pallas’s fish eagle, to name but a few.
The Topkapı Palace Museum
Topkapı Palace was not only the residence of the Ottoman sultans, but also the administrative and educational centre of the state. Initially constructed between 1460 and 1478 by Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, and expanded upon and altered many times throughout its long history, the palace served as the home of the Ottoman sultans and their court until the middle of the 19th century.
The early Islamic Caliphate inherited a variety of cultural and scientific traditions, as it incorporated ancient centers of learning and civilization such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iran. In turn, the Abbasid caliphs greatly cultivated the arts and sciences, and Baghdad became a famous intellectual center. Works were translated from Greek and Persian and great advances were made in the study sciences, especially arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
Earlier states in the territory of modern Mongolia created a favourable condition for cultural interactions between the East and the West. Horse messenger service, which was developed by the nomad, and caravan transportation also contribute to such interaction.
Orhon scripts should be named according to the place they are discovered. The discovery of the monuments bearing these scripts enables the founding and development of ancient Turkish studies. An atlas of all the monuments with Orhon scripts is urgently needed. To study these monuments requires interdisciplinary and international collaboration.
The trading routes across Asia permitted not only the passage of goods but also of ideas. Scientists and scholars travelled along these routes too, moving from court to court, and so scientific knowledge was dispersed across Asia. Astronomy was one of the first sciences to emerge, as a navigational tool, and was developed by medieval Indian and Iranian astronomers. Mathematics, chemistry, and alchemy also passed along the trade routes, and from these sciences developed the technology for making medicines.
