Forbidden Kingdoms: UNESCO World Heritage Sites 'Blacklisted' for Danger

The trade settlement of Sabratha was established by the Phoenicians in the 7th-6th centuries BC on the Mediterranean Gulf of Sidra in Libya. The site has preserved a Roman theater, temples erected to worship Greek and Egyptian gods, and a Christian basilica which dates back to the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

The ruins of the ancient town of Loropeni are situated in Burkina Faso (West Africa). Once a fortress, the place flourished during the trans-Saharan gold trade. Archeologists suppose that the town was founded by the Lohron or Koulango peoples in the 11th century.

Krak des Chevaliers castle is Hospitaller Knights’ fortress which has withstood the ravages of time. It was built atop a 650-meter cliff some 65 kilometers away from Syria’s Homs. Earthquakes and the civil war partially damaged the historic monument.

The town of Timbuktu in central Mali was founded by Tuaregs in the 12th century as a caravan trade hub. UNESCO protected its pise-walled buildings including the Djingareyber and Sankore mosques, the hanging garden and the water tower.

Baalbek harks back to the 4th century BC. Situated 80 kilometers away from Beirut, it was a major religious center devoted to Roman gods. Some stone blocks have a tremendous mass of 800-1000 tons, and scientists have been still racking brains over their transportation method.

Derbent in Russia’s Dagestan has a double wall that dates back to Sasasian times and witnessed Persians, Arabs and Mongols. Derbent also has the Naryn-Kala fortress and the first mosque in Russia. Before Crimea’s reunification with Russia in 2014, Derbent had been the oldest town in the country.

The amphitheater of El Jem in Tunisia is an outstanding symbol of Imperial Rome and the third largest building of its kind in the fallen empire. Built in the 3rd century, it could welcome up to 35,000 spectators. The scenes of Russell Crowe’s Gladiator movie were shot in this venue.

Lamu was founded on a Kenyan island of the same name in 1370. Lamu Old Town is described by UNESCO as East Africa’s oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement. Its landmarks include the Lamu Fort erected in the 1820s and the Riyadha Mosque built in 1900.

Assyria’s capital Ashur is located 260 kilometers from Baghdad on the western bank of the river Tigris. People lived there by the middle of the third millennium BC. In 2015 Daesh occupied the territory around Ashur, and the historic town was damaged by explosions.

Yemen’s Shibam is often called “the oldest skyscraper city in the world” and “the Manhattan of the desert.” The buildings were erected (mainly in the 16th century) of sun-dried earth blocks and reach 30 meters. The “skyscrapers” have from five to eleven floors, with each of them occupied by one family.