Keeping America's historic glories away from the world

BY DWIGHT YOUNG

I'm crazy about lists. Asia's Tallest Mountains or History's Bloodiest Battles, Ten Worst Movies of the Year or Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover—if it's a roster, I'll read it.

I'm especially crazy about the World Heritage List. Maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this compilation aims to be the ultimate global honor roll of cultural and natural sites of "outstanding universal value." For a hardcore building watcher and armchair traveler like me, this is the A-list that trumps all other A-lists.

Initiated in 1972, the roster now comprises more than 700 sites from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from geological wonders such as the Grand Canyon to 20th-century creations such as Brasilia. Many are familiar icons—Yosemite, Chartres Cathedral, Machu Picchu—but others are probably unknown to most Americans. Hands up if you've ever visited Madagascar's Royal Hill of Ambohimanga or the Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites in South Korea. Been there, seen that? I thought not.

The 170-plus nations that have signed the World Heritage Convention are pledged to assist one another in preserving listed landmarks. According to a recent National Geographic article, the program has helped head off inappropriate development at the Pyramids and at Victoria Falls, for example, and dues from member nations have provided funds to restore buildings, hire staff, and construct visitors facilities at several sites.

Scanning the list, I find myself fantasizing a trip that would encompass the historic towns of Diamantina in Brazil and Drogir Trogir in Croatia, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia, and the gilded temples of Luang Prabang in Laos. I can't resist the lure of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda or, a bit closer to home, the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Canada.

But then I notice something unsettling: The United States isn't well represented on the list. The chateaux of the Loire Valley are here, but the "cottages" of Newport aren't. The wooden churches of Maramures, Romania, are included, but not the adobe churches of the American Southwest. The historic centers of Havana and Santo Domingo are listed, but what about Savannah? Or Charleston? Or New Orleans? Nope, nope, and nope. And don't even ask about more modern marvels, like the Empire State Building, Fallingwater, or the shimmering Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Of the 560-odd cultural treasures on the list, only eight are in the United States. Italy, by comparison, has more than 30. Mexico has 20. The United States ranks just ahead of Bulgaria and Tunisia.

Blame bureaucracy. The nomination process in this country is cumbersome, to say the least. Before it can even be considered for nomination, a site must be designated a National Historic Landmark. That takes time. Then it must be placed on a "tentative list" and published in the Federal Register with adequate time for public comment. More delay. Finally, 100 percent owner consent to the nomination is required, a hurdle that is practically insurmountable in a historic district with hundreds of properties.

Blame fuzzy thinking, too. Some members of Congress oppose placing any American site on the list, lest doing so amount to surrendering our sovereignty to the United Nations. That's baloney, of course, but some people just can't rid themselves of the fear that swarms of U.N. helicopters will descend on us, delivering platoons of blue-helmeted furriners who will do unspeakable things to Thomas Edison's laboratory or the Alamo.

No U.S. site has been added to the list since 1995, and congressional opposition and public apathy make it highly unlikely that we'll see new nominations soon. The U.S. Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS), which facilitates American participation in international cultural conventions, has proposed sensible ways to make the nomination process less byzantine, but nothing's happened yet.

So for now, we're allowing the World Heritage List to send out an embarrassing message: In the whole sea-to-shining-sea expanse of the United States, there are only eight cultural treasures of global significance. That's just plain wrong. I know it, and we ought to let the rest of the world know it, too.

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