Update: World Heritage Sites in Macedonia — Dlaboka River
It finally happened. Macedonia got its second World Heritage Site at the World Heritage Committee’s 44th session in late July 2021, over four decades after Ohrid was first inscribed. Just a couple months ago, this writer published this story lamenting about places in Macedonia deserving World Heritage Site status.
So, what is the new site?
It is an extension of the existing site “Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe” which now covers 94 forests in 18 European countries. Among these forests is now the beech forest of the Dlaboka River valley within Mavrovo National Park. This is a steep valley near the source of this river, with the Korab Waterfall also nearby.
Macedonia added this forest to its list of tentative sites in 2019. With this site now inscribed on the World Heritage Site list, four sites remain on Macedonia’s tentative list: Cave Slatinski Izvor (since 2004), Markovi Kuli (since 2004), Archaeo-astronomical Site Kokino (since 2009), and the Church of St. George in Kurbinovo (since 2020). As stated in previously, however, several more sites in the country are deserving of such status. The inscription of the Dlaboka River Beech Forest is, of course, a step in the right direction.
