Just as Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” dominated theaters in July, Zeus’ home of Mount Olympus also gained worldwide acclaim after recently being listed as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

After a thorough committee session held in South Korea, 25 new sites have been granted the UNESCO World Heritage Site title. Of the new additions, 19 are listed under cultural properties, five under natural properties, and one under the mixed category.

Cultural sites include the Aalto Works (Finland), Alamūt Castle (Iran), Amazonia Theaters (Brazil), Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath (India), Asuka and Fujiwara (Japan), the beaches of the D-day Landings in Normandy (France), Gdynia Modernist City Centre (Poland), Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites (China), Mount Amel Castles (Lebanon), Rock Mosques and Associated Sacred Sites of Mangystau (Kazakhstan), Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc (France), Sebastia (State of Palestine), Tashkent Modernist Architecture (Uzbekistan), Cemetery Complexes of the Xiongnu Nobility (Mongolia), Medinas of the Historic Sultanates of the Comoros (Comoros), Roças of Sao Tome and Principe (Sao Tome and Principe), System of Italian-style Condominio Theatres (Italy), Village of Sidi Bou Saïd (Tunisia), and Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan (Thailand).

For natural sites, there’s the Aqaba Marine Reserve (Jordan), Bomabadingilo Migratory Landscape (South Sudan), Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (US), Bony Fish Fossils of the Western Limfjord (Denmark), and the Wadi Wurayah (United Arab Emirates). The sole mixed heritage site is Greece’s Mount Olympus. This brings up the total number of heritage sites to 1,273.

Among the notable inclusions are sites like Mount Olympus from Greece, the D-day beaches in France, and the Palestinian village of Sebastia.

Mount Olympus, famously known as the fabled home of Zeus, is known as the mythological battleground of the Titans and the Olympians. Here, Zeus and his cohorts clashed against the old gods to end their tyranny.

Then, there are the infamous D-day beaches, where thousands of Allied soldiers met their grim end as they stormed the beaches of France to fend off the Nazi’s stronghold on the area. Their sacrifice is forever remembered as one of the biggest pushes to end World War II in Europe.

Finally, in modern times, we think of the current hardships the State of Palestine is facing. Sebastia, once the site of a royal kingdom, now faces uncertainties in its preservation after Israeli forces seized the area in 2024. In its official listing, the site is now classified as endangered.

Receiving the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation isn’t merely a title. Upon being granted such status, a country becomes eligible to receive expert advice and financial assistance from the World Heritage Committee to support activities for the preservation of its sites. Such status also reminds the general public and the local government about the importance of preserving the site.

In the Philippines, there are six officially recognized heritage sites.

Three of which are cultural, and the other three are natural. These include a collective list of Baroque architecture churches found within the country, Ilocos Sur’s Vigan City, the Cordillera rice terraces, the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park found within the Sulu Sea, the Puerto-princesa Subterranean River National Park in Palawan, and the Davao Region’s Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary. There are several other locations listed as nominated sites as well, including well-known locations like Batanes, Bohol’s Chocolate Hills, and Corregidor Island.