The ESMA Memorial Site Museum is a World Heritage Site: What Other Argentine Destinations Are?

The ESMA Memorial Site Museum, which this Tuesday was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, becomes the twelfth site with this category within Argentina.

The former Navy Mechanics School (ESMA), one of the largest and most sinister detention centers during the last dictatorship (1976-1983), was converted into a Memory Site in May 2015, during the Government of Cristina Fernández (2007-2015).

Read also: The Infamous Story Of The Flights of Death: Why Were 4 Argentine Ex-Soldiers Convicted?

Kidnappings, torture, rape and theft of babies were part of the macabre history of this property, which was transferred in 1924 by the municipality of Buenos Aires to the Navy and which, during the dictatorship, was the origin of the sinister "flights of death".

List of the other Argentine sites that are World Heritage Sites:

   

1. Los Glaciares National Park. Natural property declared a World Heritage Site in 1981. Its importance lies in the fact that it is the most extensive relict area of the glaciological processes of the Quaternary Period in South America, and one of the most important tourist destinations in the country, located in the province of Santa Cruz (south).

2. Guaraní Jesuit Missions. Cultural site included in the list in 1984, whose attraction lies in the testimonial, cultural and historical value of the link between the indigenous Guaraní peoples and the Jesuits of the Company of Jesus in South America. It is located in Misiones (northeast).

3. Iguazú National Park. It is a natural asset designated World Heritage in 1984. Its enormous waterfalls, located in the province of Misiones (northeast), offer a natural spectacle that is among the most impressive in the world and which attracts a good part of the tourists who visit the country.

4. Cave of the Manos del Río Paintings. It is a cultural asset added to the list in 1999. It houses an exceptional set of rock art, unique in the world, due to its age, its degree of conservation and its environment. It is located in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz (south).

5. Peninsula Valdés. Included in the list of World Heritage Sites since 1999, it is a place of preservation of marine mammals (right whales, elephants and sea lions) of enormous importance that attracts numerous tourists every year. Located in the Patagonian province of Chubut (south).

6. Ischigualasto Park (San Juan, west) and Talampaya Park (La Rioja, west). Both are contiguous natural parks, which entered the World Heritage list in 2000, and have an exceptional and complete record of animal and plant life over a geological period of more than 200 million years.

7. Los Alerces National Park. It was included on the payroll in 2017 and is part of the country's National System of Protected Areas. Its spectacular geomorphological landscape features were shaped by successive glaciations in the form of lakes, high valleys and rocky peaks. Its larch forest stands out. Larches are the second longest-lived tree species in the world, whose average lifespan is 3,600 years. It is in Chubut (south).

8. Block and Jesuit Estates. Listed in 2000, they are an exceptional example of an unprecedented religious, social and economic experience, which took place between the 17th and 18th centuries and lasted more than 150 years. Located in Córdoba (center).

9. Humahuaca ravine. It is an imposing mountainous valley, narrow and arid, full of archaeological and architectural sites reflecting its long history. Located in the northern province of Jujuy, it was included on the list in 2003.

10. Qhapaq Ñan. It is the road system built by pre-Hispanic Andean communities in the 15th century, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2014. It covers six countries in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and crosses seven provinces in northwest Argentina. along 118 kilometers.

11. Architectural work of Le Corbusier. Part of this artistic ensemble was included in 2016 on the UNESCO Heritage list as a contribution to modernism. Of the seven countries included in this candidacy, Argentina has the house of Dr. Curutchet, in La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires.