The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972.[1] Benin accepted the convention on June 14, 1982, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. As of 2023, Benin has three World Heritage Sites.[2]
Name | Image | Location | Criteria | Year | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Royal Palaces of Abomey | Zou Department | Cultural (iii) (iv) | 1985 | From 1625 to 1900, 12 kings succeeded one another at the head of the powerful Kingdom of Abomey. With the exception of King Akaba, who had his own separate enclosure, they all had their palaces built within the same cob-wall area, in keeping with previous palaces as regards the use of space and materials. The royal palaces of Abomey are a unique reminder of this vanished kingdom.[3] | |
W-Arly-Pendjari Complex | Alibori Department, Atakora Department | Natural (ix) (x) | 1996, 2017 | This transnational extension (Benin, Burkina Faso) to the W National Park of Niger, inscribed in 1996 on the World Heritage List, cover a major expanse of intact Sudano-Sahelian savannah, with vegetation types including grasslands, shrub lands, wooded savannah and extensive gallery forests. It includes the largest and most important continuum of terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic ecosystems in the West African savannah belt. The property is a refuge for wildlife species that have disappeared elsewhere in West Africa or are highly threatened. It is home to the largest population of elephants in West Africa and most of the large mammals typical of the region, such as the African Manatee, cheetah, lion and leopard. It also harbours the only viable population of lions in the region.[4] | |
Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba | Atakora Department | Cultural (v) (vi) | 2004, 2023 | The Koutammakou landscape in north-eastern Togo and neighbouring Benin is home to the Batammariba, whose remarkable mud tower-houses are known as takienta (sikien in the plural). Nature is strongly associated with the rituals and beliefs of society here. The landscape is exceptional due to the architecture of the tower-houses which reflect the social structure; its farmland and forest; and the associations between people and landscape. The buildings are grouped in villages, which also include ceremonial spaces, springs, sacred rocks and sites reserved for initiation ceremonies.[5] |
Site | Image | Location | Criteria | Area ha (acre) |
Year of submission | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Porto Novo village: old quarters and Royal Palace | Ouémé Department 6°29′50″N 2°36′18″E / 6.497222°N 2.605°E | Cultural (v) (vi) | 1996 | [6] | ||
W Reserve of Niger and the vernacular habitat of northern Benin | Alibori Department 12°31′31″N 2°39′48″E / 12.525278°N 2.663333°E | Cultural (iii) (iv) | 1996 | [7] | ||
Underground village of Agongointo-Zoungoudo | Zou Department 7°11′20″N 2°05′03″E / 7.1889°N 2.0842°E | Cultural (i) (iv) | 1998 | [8] | ||
Lower Ouémé Valley | Atlantique Department 6°40′00″N 2°15′00″E / 6.666667°N 2.25°E | Mixed (v) (ix) | 2020 | [9] | ||
Highlights of the Slave Route in Benin | Atlantique Department, Collines Department, Plateau Department, Zou Department 6°22′00″N 2°05′00″E / 6.366667°N 2.083333°E | Cultural (iv) (vi) | 2021 | [10] |