NYTimes: What African country’s capital of Asmara is a UNESCO world heritage site?

Natalie Portman
By Natalie Portman 2 Min Read

What African country’s capital of Asmara is a UNESCO world heritage site?

Is Asmara a World Heritage site?
The capital of Eritrea, a country with a repressive government that many of its citizens have fled as refugees, has been designated a World Heritage site by Unesco, the United Nations cultural organization.

What African country’s capital of Asmara is a UNESCO world heritage site?

Eritrea
Egypt
Nigeria
Kenya

The Answer: The correct answer is Eritrea.

Is Asmara in Unesco?
Asmara, the capital of Eritrea has officially been labeled a World Heritage site by the United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It followed years of lobbying by the country which is nestled between the Red Sea and Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti

Located on a highland plateau at the centre of Eritrea, Asmara, a Modernist city of Africa is the capital of the country and is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a colonial planned city, which resulted from the subsequent phases of planning between 1893 and 1941, under the Italian colonial occupation. Its urban layout is based mainly on an orthogonal grid which later integrated elements of a radial system. Asmara preserves an unusually intact human scale, featuring eclectic and rationalist built forms, well-defined open spaces, and public and private buildings, including cinemas, shops, banks, religious structures, public and private offices, industrial facilities, and residences. Altogether, Asmara’s urban-scape outstandingly conveys how colonial planning, based on functional and racial segregation principles, was applied and adapted to the local geographical conditions to achieve symbolic meaning and functional requirements. The town has come to be associated with the struggle of the Eritrean people for self-determination, which was pursued whilst embracing the tangible, yet exceptional, evidence of their colonial past. Read more unesco: see details

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