2 more Croatian sites join UNESCO World Heritage List

Two more Croatian sites have been included in UNESCO's World Heritage List on Sunday, at the 41st Session of the World Heritage Committee in Krakow, Poland.

The two newly inscribed are the old walls of the town of Zadar and the St. Nicholas Fortress in Sibenik.

"We are delighted. We have been working on this project for six years and this award will be a big push for touristic promotion of the country. This could lead to opening new jobs," Davor Trupkovic, assistant of Croatian Minister of Culture, told Xinhua on Sunday.

Located on the island Ljuljevac in the Adriatic Sea, near the town of SibenikSt, Nicholas Fortress dates back to the 16th century. With a specific triangular shape, the fortress was built to protect the city from raids by Ottoman Turks, but has never fulfilled its function as it was not active. However, it has become an attractive tourist spot nowadays.

Zadar, another Croatian coastal city, was once the largest city-fortress in the entire Republic of Venice. Its walls were built between the 15th and 17th century. Some of the walls and eight gates are still well preserved today.

Early on Friday, UNESCO also recognized beech forests in Northern Velebit and Paklenica National Parks in Croatia as part of a trans-boundary heritage site of primeval beech forests that stretch over 12 countries.

With these newly-added sites, Croatia now has 11 places on the UNESCO list.

source; xinhua