Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. Places as unique and diverse as the wilds of East Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Baroque cathedrals of Latin America make up our world’s heritage.

I always had a dream of roaming aimlessly atleast some of the World Heritage Sites ( To see the List of Heritage Sites - Click Here ) And if you also had such a dream, may be it will turn true soon, if not physically atleast virtually on net.

Sites of outstanding universal value inscribed on the World Heritage List – the historic centre of Prague in the Czech Republic and the old town of Cáceres in Spain, for example – can now be explored online by internet users around the world, thanks to an alliance signed by UNESCO and the international corporation Google. 

The agreement makes it possible for internet users to visit 18 of the 890 World Heritage properties via Google’s Street View interface. All the other sites on the List will be shown on the Google Earth and Google Maps interfaces.  The 19 sites are located in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. Street View provides nearly spherical panoramic (360° horizontal and 290° vertical) views taken by cameras mounted on vehicles.

Once obtained, these images are overlaid on Google Maps’ satellite views – the process can take several months. When the specially-equipped cars cannot reach sites to be photographed, tricycles are used.

“The alliance with Google makes it possible to offer virtual visits of the sites to everyone, to increase awareness and to encourage participation in the preservation of these treasures,” said UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova. “Cultural and natural heritage sites are an irreplaceable source of inspiration and fascination. This is an exciting project and we're thrilled to be working with UNESCO to make more World Heritage sites universally accessible and useful to all,” said Carlo d’Asaro, Google’s Vice-President for Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa. At UNESCO’s suggestion, Google will soon be visiting and photographing other sites on the List.

The focus is on harder-to-access sites, which will be photographed with the permission of site managers. They can then be appreciated by millions of people who might never have the opportunity to visit them otherwise. The sites are located notably in South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands. In future, Google and UNESCO will also work together to provide online access, via Google Maps, YouTube and Google Earth, to maps, texts and videos pertaining to UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves, to documentary heritage inscribed on the Memory of the World Register and to endangered languages.  So to watch these wonders of yester world, just co here :  http://maps.google.com/ and start searching for each one of the list... Jai Ho Google 

Update : Good News, there is no need search each and every site, To view the Entire list just click here - this has complete list of available street views and you can select which ever you want.. just comfortably

Any queries , feel free to ask in the form of comments.. In the mean while I will be touring the World Heritage Sites