Introduction
WHAT ?
<WHTour.org> is a non-profit organization documenting the UNESCO World Heritage List in panographies - 360-degree imaging. Please read our organization's mission and purpose.
Today 297 sites have been visited : 235 are available on this web site and 62 are currently in post-production and will soon be uploaded. Out of these 297 sites, 216 are World Heritage sites (25% of all 851 registered by UNESCO - 1441 panographies), 15 are on the World Monuments Fund Watch List (71 panographies) and 66 are additions by <WHTour.org> (164 panographies). Altogether there are 1676 panographies.
WHERE ?
Please jump to the planisphere to check out available sites. Please sign up to get notified when new locations are added.
WHEN ?
This project is steadily growing since July 2001 and will need years to complete.
WHO ?
Tito Dupret, assisted by Bijuan Chen, is the engine of the organization. <WHTour.org> is alive thanks to the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the donors and the staff.
WHY ?
This is for those who are unable to travel for whatever reason, and also a legacy to future generations. Soon documentation and reproduction will be the only ways to see, enjoy and share many past glories that are slowly disappearing because of :
- Climate change and natural disasters [ Ex. The Sundarbans in Bangladesh ] ;
- Illegal trade (logging, looting, poaching) [ Ex. Chitwan Royal Park in Nepal ] ;
- Mass tourism and travel industrialization [ Ex. Jiuzhaigou Valley in China ] ;
- Mismanagement (incompetence, wrong policies, lack of funds) [ Ex. The Great Wall in China ] ;
- Modernity (fast development, leaving or growing populations) [ Ex. Rice Terraces in the Philippines ] ;
- Political instability, conflict and war [ Ex. Bamiyan in Afghanistan ] ;
- Pollution [ Ex. The Temple of Heaven in China ].