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Itinerary: World Heritage Sites
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In spite of all its natural wonders and considerably man-made beauty, Switzerland only boasts six Unesco World Heritage sites, all but one in the eastern half of the country.
Starting in the north, St Gallen is the seat of a grand abbey and church complex that is home to one of the world’s oldest libraries. On a similarly artistic note is the Kloster de St Johann (St John’s Monastery) in Müstair in the extreme east of the country, graced with vivid Carolingian and Romanesque frescoes. Both these sites were declared in 1983.
The canton of Ticino has two of the country’s heritage sites. The first is the inspiring trio of defensive castles in Bellinzona, added to the list in 2000. The second site, Monte San Giorgio, was added in 2003. A pyramid-shaped, wood-covered mountain (1096m) south of Lago di Lugano, it was selected by Unesco as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic period (around 240 million years ago).
In the south of the country, the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn Alpine area (selected in 2001), was listed for its receding glaciers, especially the 24km-long Aletsch Glacier.
Finally, the old city centre of Bern, which was listed in 1983, is the only Unesco site in the western half of the country.
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