Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas Venezuela

The University City of Caracas is an outstanding example, and one of the best in the world, of the modern urban, architectural and artistic concepts of the early 20th century. It therefore illustrates in an excellent way this recent but already significant period in human history. The urban and architectural spaces created by Carlos Raúl Villanueva in association with the works of the artists who participated in the 'integration of the arts' are of incomparable quality and character. The essence of the work is in the message and the aesthetic emotion that its authors have managed to transmit.

Continent: South America

Country: Venezuela

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (I)(IV)

Date of Inscription: 2000

Origin of the Central University of Venezuela

The origin of the Central University of Venezuela was the foundation of the Royal and Pontifical University by a decree of Philip V in 1721, promulgated during the Spanish colonial period. It operated within the Santa Rosa Seminary. In 1856 it became independent of the seminary and was transferred to the former San Francisco Convent. The university soon started growing and occupied other buildings outside the convent. This dispersal caused problems for its work and so it was decided to concentrate the university in a new ensemble, a campus in the outskirts of Caracas.

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Studies for the new university campus began in 1942. In the following year a Coordinating Commission was created, composed of Dr Armando Vegas as coordinator and Carlos Raúl Villanueva as planner. Villanueva, founder and professor of the Faculty of Architecture, had participated in a commission sent to study the university campus of Bogotá, and after this experience he emerged as the principal planner-architect of the new team. Work started on the first buildings in 1945.

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The 1949 revised plan produced the first important changes in the urban layout: Villanueva abandoned the symmetrical disposition of the structures. His project is characterized by the application of modern technology, the audacity of the forms, and the use of bare concrete structures, conceived as sculptures. It led to the creation of a complex, open and integrated space which was at the same time protected from light and heat. Since the death of Villanueva there have been various modifications, including new buildings designed by Gorka Dorronsoro, who was one of the young collaborators of Villanueva.

The architecture of the university involves the use of spatial elements that have been extracted from Venezuelan colonial architecture, such as bright colours, latticed windows for ventilation, and internal gardens of copious tropical vegetation. It constitutes an outstanding example in a small enclosed space of a utopian world reflecting that time and expressing the quality of modern urbanism, vegetation joined with the use of new materials and modern aesthetics.

The University City, an integral part of the modern city of Caracas, is articulated through a zoning scheme; there are several groups that are identified with the unity of their functions: 1, cultural and administrative centre; 2, medicine; 3, engineering, economics, liberal arts and sciences; 4, residential units; 5, botany; 6, architecture; 7, sports; 8, industrial technology school; and 9, services. The campus includes a series of large buildings, in particular the faculties of Architecture, Economy, Pharmacy, and Dentistry, the Library and the Hospital. The most notable buildings are the Aula Magna, with the magnificent 'Clouds' of Alexander Calder, the Olympic Stadium, and the covered plaza.

The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas is an example of outstanding quality representing the highest ideals and concepts of modern city planning, architecture and art in the mid-20th century. Its particular quality is in the skill of integrating new architectural forms and contemporary art into a spatial and environmental whole, satisfying the functional and ideological requirements of the institution.

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World Heritage Canaima National Park

Canaima National Park is spread over 3 million ha in south-eastern Venezuela along the border between Guyana and Brazil. Roughly 65% of the park is covered by table mountain (tepui) formations. The tepuis constitute a unique biogeological entity and are of great geological interest. The sheer cliffs and waterfalls, including the world's highest (1,000 m), form a spectacular landscape. Canaima was established as a national park in 1962 and its size was doubled to the present area in 1975 and inscribed Word Heritage in 1994.

Continent: South America

Country: Venezuela

Category: Natural

Criterion: (VII)(VIII) (IX) (X)

Date of Inscription: 1994

Caronì River Angel Falls

The park is best known for the unique table mountain (tepui ) formations: there are numerous waterfalls, including Angel Falls with a free drop of 1,002 m. The high level of endemism found on the summits of the tepuis has led to the recognition of Pantepui as a unique biogeographic entity. The park protects the headwaters of the Caronì River which supplies Guri, the country's largest hydroelectric power station and source of 60% of the nation's energy. The savannah portion of the park is inhabited by the indigenous Pemòn people, many of whom are settled and dependent on three Capuchin missions. A main road from Ciudad Bolivar runs along the eastern border of the park, bisecting its south-east corner and providing easy access for tourists. There are no other metalled roads within the park, the western section being accessible only by air.

Angel Falls

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Species

The fauna is diverse, although not very abundant: 118 mammals, 550 birds, 72 reptiles and 55 amphibians have been recorded. There are six species of mammals of conservation concern: giant anteater, giant armadillo, giant otter, bush dog, little spotted cat and margay. The only endemic mammal is the rodent Podoxymys roraimae . The avifauna is varied and contains over 30 species endemic to Pantepui. The less mobile orders, amphibians, reptiles and fish, exhibit even higher levels of endemism.

The forests and savannah have been occupied for 10,000 years by various groups of Amerindians of the Carib family, collectively known as the Pemon. Two archaeological sites, containing various hand-fashioned stone tools estimated to be 9,000 years old, have been found in the park.

The park is sparsely inhabited: many Pemon maintain traditional lifestyles of swidden agriculture, hunting and gathering. They also trade artefacts and now have access to electricity, schools and basic medical care.

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Coro and its Port Venezuela

Coro and its Port earthen constructions unique to the Caribbean, Coro are the only surviving example of a rich fusion of local traditions with Spanish Mudejar and Dutch architectural techniques. One of the first colonial towns (founded in 1527), it has some 602 historic buildings. Coro is an outstanding example of a historic town, dating from the earliest years of Spanish colonization on the Caribbean coast of South America, which has conserved its original layout and early urban landscape to a remarkable degree. It is the only surviving example of a remarkable fusion of styles over time, and is also important for the large number of ecclesiastical buildings and ensembles that it contains. Although a number of the Spanish colonial settlements on this coast, such as Maracaibo, were originally primarily of earthen construction, Coro is the only one in which such structures have survived intact to the present day.

Continent: South America

Country: Venezuela

Category: Danger List

Criterion: (IV)(V)

Date of Inscription: 1993

Coro is the largest town

Santa Ana de Coro is the largest town with buildings of earthen construction in Venezuela, and one of the most important in the Caribbean region. Unlike other towns in this coast, even its public buildings are of earthen construction, not stone. In this, and in its plan, deriving from the towns of Andalusia and the Canary Islands of the 15th century, it exercised considerable influence over other settlements in the region.

Coro The Present day Building

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Founded in 1527

The city of Coro was founded in 1527 by the expedition sent from Santo Domingo by Juan de Ampies, factor of the Spanish Crown there. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the area was inhabited by Caquetios Indians, who irrigated the lands by means of a large channel from a dam on the Coro River, which explains the choice of site. The settlement acquired legal status with the creation of a municipal council in 1529.

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Angel Waterfall

Waterfall Salto Angel or Angel is a free-falling waterfall the highest in the world with a height of 979 meters (3212 feet) with no barriers fall around 807 meters (2647 feet). This waterfall is located in the Rio Caroni, Canaima National Park, Venezuela.

 Although first seen in the early 20th century by the explorer Ernesto de Santa Cruz, the waterfall was not known officially the world until discovered by American aviator, James Crawford Angel in flight looking for the gold mine site. In 1936, James Angel returned and landed his plane near a waterfall. This waterfall is called "Waterfalls Angel" in memory of its discoverer, James Crawford Angel. Pemon Indians called this waterfall as "Auyan-tepui" ("Aiyan-tepui") which means "Mountain of Satan".

Official altitude is determined by the National Geographic Society in 1949. This waterfall is the most famous tourist attractions in Venezuela.