The status was granted at a UNESCO Committee meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha on June 23.
UNESCO describes Trang An, a mixed natural and cultural property, as a spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, some of which are submerged, and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs.
Exploration of some of the highest-altitude caves dotted across the landscape has revealed archaeological traces of human activity dating back almost 30,000 years, which illustrates the occupation of these mountains by hunter-gatherers, and how they adapted to climatic and environmental changes, the UN cultural body said on its website.
The complex also includes Hoa Lu, which was Vietnam’s capital in the 10th and 11th centuries, as well as temples, pagodas, paddy-field landscapes, villages and sacred sites scattered over a large area of 10,000 hectares in Hoa Lu, Gia Vien, and Nho Quan districts.
Trang An was recognised by the Vietnamese Government as a special national site in May 2012, and its dossier was submitted to UNESCO in September of that year.
The latest inscription raises the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Vietnam to eight, the other seven being Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, the Hue Monuments Complex, the Old Town of Hoi An, My Son Sanctuary, the Thang Long Imperial Citadel and the Ho Dynasty Citadel.
The old capital of Hoa Lu in the Trang An complex
The view from inside a karst cave in Trang An
The landscape turns bright yellow as rice plants begin to ripen in early summer.
