UNESCO World Heritage for Peru

UNESCO World Heritage Sites represent some of the best natural, cultural and historic attractions in world travel. Below are details of the 12 cultural, natural and mixed sites inscribed for Peru to date (a red World Heritage symbol denotes a site currently regarded as endangered). For more details of these properties, click on the links to the UNESCO website and the photographic galleries of these sites from OurPlace (where available) or see our highlights of Peru for descriptions. Also, check out UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage for Peru below.


1983 - Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu Mixed site
1983 - City of Cuzco Cultural site
1985 - Chavin (Archaeological Site) Cultural site
1985 - Huascarán National Park Natural site
1986 - Chan Chan Archaeological Zone Cultural site
1987 - Manú National Park Natural site
1988 - Historic Centre of Lima Cultural site
1990 - Río Abiseo National Park Mixed site
1994 - Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de Jumana Cultural site
2000 - Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa Cultural site
2009 - Sacred City of Caral-Supe Cultural site
2014 - Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System Cultural site


Intangible Cultural Heritage

Recently UNESCO has begun to document the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage which includes "traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts". The current listings for Peru are shown below - click on the links for more details.


Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

2008 - Oral heritage and cultural manifestations of the Zápara people
2008 - Taquile and its textile art
2010 - Huaconada, ritual dance of Mito
2010 - Scissors dance
2011 - Pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Lord of Qoyllurit’i

Programmes, projects and activities for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage considered to best reflect the principles and objectives of the Convention

2009 - Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage of Aymara communities in Bolivia, Chile and Peru

List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding

2011 - Eshuva, Harákmbut sung prayers of Peru’s Huachipaire people