World Heritage in São Tomé and Príncipe

The island state of São Tomé and Príncipe ratified the World Heritage Convention in 2006. As of March 2018, however, the country has not yet submitted a tentative list to UNESCO and has therefore not nominated any candidates for UNESCO World Heritage .

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^[obsolete] In October 2013, Minister of Culture Jorge Bom Jesus declared that he wanted to have the first proposals entered in 2017 on the UNESCO tentative list. He said that the rich architectural legacy of the sugar cane and subsequent cocoa plantations from the Portuguese colonial era should be preserved and made known. The commission set up to develop the proposals includes, in particular, Nazaré de Ceita, director of the National Library of São Tomé and Príncipe and general secretary of the country's UNESCO commission.

Also in October 2013, an initiative funded by Japan began to train people in São Tomé and Príncipe in order to develop the proposals for the tentative list aimed at by the state. Suggestions are to be expected which those responsible have already mentioned in this context or which have already been highlighted as unique by the literature. The national UNESCO commissioner Nazaré de Ceita, for example, highlighted the ruins of the Forte de São Jerónimo .

Various Portuguese architects and journalists visited the country and its numerous, mostly derelict country estates, the Roças , several times and published about them. The architect and journalist José Manuel Fernandes met the Planning and Development Minister Agostinho Fernandes in 2013 and spoke to him about the list he had drawn up in the early 1990s, in which he listed particularly sensitive examples of the country's architectural heritage. Particular attention was paid to the Roça Rio do Ouro (today Roça Agostinho Neto ).

The Portuguese architects Rodrigo Rebelo de Andrade and Duarte Pape published their investigations and surveys in a joint book ("As Roças de São Tomé e Príncipe", Tinta da China, Lisbon 2013), which also urged protection for the many unique mansions among the 122 Roças , including the Roça Bela Vista , the Roça Água Izé , or the dilapidated Roça Saudade near Trindade , where the Portuguese artist Almada Negreiros was born in 1893. On some of the further decaying Roças , traces of the 245 km long rail traffic on São Tomé can still be found. This work and its recommendations also caught the attention of the São Tomé officials.

Therefore, among the sites eligible for the tentative list, the following names, most often mentioned by the officials, should be mentioned:

image	K / N	Surname	description
	K	Forte de São Sebastião ( location )	Fortress built in 1675 in the capital São Tomé , home of the National Museum since 1976; since 2002 in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA
	K	Forte de Sao Jerónimo ( location )	Ruins of a fortress built in 1566, 1.5 km south of Fortaleza de São Sebastião
	K	Roça São João dos Angolares ( location )	Plantation and estate in São João dos Angolares , as an example of the pronounced cocoa plantation culture on São Tomé and Príncipe during the Portuguese colonial era; since 2012 in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA
	K	Roça Agostinho Neto ( location )	formerly Roça Rio do Ouro , mansion built in 1865 in the Lobata district , as a special example of the distinct cocoa plantation culture on São Tomé and Príncipe during the Portuguese colonial period; since 2012 in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA
	K	Roça Bela Vista ( location )	Manor house in the Lobata district, as a particularly well-preserved example of the distinctive cocoa plantation culture on São Tomé and Príncipe during the Portuguese colonial period; since 2012 in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA
	K	Roça Água Izé ( location )	Manor house in the Cantagalo district , with its characteristic hospital a special example of the distinct cocoa plantation culture on São Tomé and Príncipe during the colonial period; since 2012 in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sao Tome and Principe. In: whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed March 23, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Article of October 9, 2013 announcing World Heritage proposals by the State of São Tomé and Príncipe ( Memento of the original of March 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , News portal stpdigital.net, accessed on March 28, 2016 
3. ↑ Article on the Japanese-funded World Heritage training initiative on São Tomé and Príncipe , on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Commission, accessed on March 27, 2016
4. ↑ ^{a b} Temos 10 anos para salvar as roças de São Tomé e Príncipe - “We have 10 years to save the Roças of São Tomé and Príncipe” Article of November 25, 2013 in the Portuguese daily Público , accessed on March 28, 2016
5. ↑ K - Cultural Heritage; N - natural heritage
6. ^ Entry of the Forte de São Sebastião in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA, accessed on March 28, 2016
7. ↑ Entry of Roça São João dos Angolares in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA, accessed on March 28, 2016
8. ^ Entry of Roça Agostinho Neto in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA, accessed on March 28, 2016
9. ↑ Roça Bela Vista entry in the Portuguese SIPA list of monuments, accessed on March 28, 2016
10. ↑ Entry of Roça Água Izé in the Portuguese list of monuments SIPA, accessed on March 28, 2016

Web links

• São Tomé and Príncipe on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap