Heritage with Related Tags
Trans-Iranian Railway
The Trans-Iran Railway connects the Caspian Sea in the northeast and the Persian Gulf in the southwest, crossing two mountain ranges, rivers, plateaus, forests and plains, and four different climatic zones. The 1,394-kilometer railway was started in 1927 and completed in 1938, designed and implemented by the Iranian government in successful cooperation with 43 construction contractors from many countries. The railway is notable for its scale and the engineering required to overcome steep routes and other difficulties. In its construction, some areas required extensive mountaineering, while other areas required the construction of 174 large bridges, 186 small bridges, and 224 tunnels, including 11 spiral tunnels, due to the rugged terrain. Unlike most early railway projects, the construction of the Trans-Iran Railway was funded by state taxes to avoid foreign investment and control.
Historic Areas of Istanbul
Istanbul, strategically located on the Bosporus Peninsula, between the Balkans and Anatolia, bordering the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, has been a center of major political, religious and artistic activity for more than 2,000 years. Istanbul's masterpieces include the Hippodrome of Constantine, the 6th-century Hagia Sophia and the 16th-century Suleymaniye Mosque, but today these buildings are threatened by population pressure, industrial pollution and uncontrolled urbanization.
High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago
The Kvarken Archipelago (Finland) and the High Coast (Sweden) are located in the Gulf of Bothnia, a northern extension of the Baltic Sea. The 5,600 islands of the Kvarken Archipelago feature distinctive ridged washboard moraines, the "De Geer Moraine", formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet between 10,000 and 24,000 years ago. The archipelago has been rising from the sea in a process of rapid glacial isostatic uplift, where land previously depressed by the weight of glaciers has risen at the highest rate in the world. As a result, islands have emerged and connected, peninsulas have expanded, and lakes have evolved from bays into marshes and peat bogs. The High Coast has also been greatly affected by the combined processes of glaciation, glacial retreat, and the emergence of new land from the sea. Since the last retreat of glaciers from the High Coast 9,600 years ago, uplift has reached 285 meters, the highest known "rebound". The site provides an excellent opportunity to understand important processes that form glacial and terrestrial uplift zones on the Earth's surface.