Two World's Heritage List Sites Overlooked in Germany

Two World's Heritage List Sites Overlooked in Germany
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Two World's Heritage List Sites Overlooked in Germany

Two World's Heritage List Sites Overlooked in Germany

The World Heritage List includes over 1,100 sites in 167 countries across the world, and the number is growing. Among these are many popular German landmarks like Berlin's Museum Island, the Cologne Cathedral, and the Bauhaus sites. But the UNESCO list includes many more sites in Germany that haven't acquired the same fame.

Below, you can find two sites that worth to be visited during your next trip to Germany:

The Muskauer Park:

This masterpiece designed by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau on the borders with Poland, worth the visit for many reasons.

Added to the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004, this park is a unique example of European natural parks. It is like a living painting with all the gardening landscapes featured in it.

The park was designed in 1815 and it features 50 km paths suitable for biking. Visitors can also learn more about the park's designer by visiting the permanent must-see exhibition Neues Schloss.

The Modernism Housing Estates or Siedlungen der Berliner Moderne:

Any trip to Berlin cannot be complete without visiting the Museums Island. But the six Modernism Housing Estates, established between 1913 and 1934 as a reverse design of the tragic residential buildings, are almost unknown to people in Berlin. These Estates, which have become a model for the 20th century architecture, are still popular until.

You can also enjoy an exciting experience by wandering in the Falkenberg Garden City in the Treptow-Köpenick region.

With their sparkly facades and geometric shapes, the Six Estates designed by Architect Bruno Taut, are a treat to the eye. Information centers and guided tours are available in the Six Estates including the two biggest ones Siemensstadt and Hufeisensiedlung.



Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.