UNESCO World Heritage Sites on World Banknotes

When I started tallying the world banknotes depicting UNESCO World Heritage Sites I soon discovered it was a daunting and huge task. In most cases the site shown is not titled. Both the banknotes and reference books often use alternate spellings or Diacritic marks. When a search feature is used these issues totally eliminate the subject from being found. Most UNESCO sites have specific locations, meaning a search of words or images can be time consuming. For example, the UNESCO site "Paris, Banks of the Seine" only includes specific buildings along the Seine River in Paris. Most of the sites of cities are limited to specific locations in the city - "Historic Center", "Old Bridge Area", and "Fortified Area" as examples. Even so this book is the result of much entertaining research and detective work.

Book Cover

Scope of UNESCO Sites

As of 2024, there are 1,199 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 385 sites shown on banknotes or 32+%
With 195 current countries (this is negotiable!), there are 163 current nations with UNESCO sites or 69+%
28 "dead" countries no longer surviving have UNESCO sites appear on their banknotes
There are 67 sites shown on multiple nations
Most banknotes for a single site - 184, Great Wall of China
Most countries showing the same UNESCO site - 7, Angkor (but most of these are "dead" countries)
Most current countries showing the same UNESCO site - 6, Old City of Jerusalem
Country with the most UNESCO sites - 61, Italy
Country with the most UNESCO sites on their banknotes - 17, Mexico

Afghanistan Example

Afghanistan has 3 UNESCO sites. Only one site, the Bamiyan Valley (2003) with 8 locations is depicted on three bank notes, with one showing the cliff carvings. The Bamiyan Valley cultural site was inscribed in UNESCO in 2003. The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the Buddhist art that resulted from the interaction between man and nature from the 1st to 13th centuries. The kingdom of Bamiyan was a Buddhist state along the trade routes that for centuries linked China and Central Asia with India and the west. Statues of Buddha were carved into the sides of cliffs facing Bamiyan city. The two most prominent of these statues were standing Buddha, measuring 180 and 121 feet high respectively, that were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world. They were probably erected in the 4th or 5th century.
The three banknotes are:

P21/B301 2 Afghanis of 1939
P51/B334 500 Afghanis of 1974-75
P52/B335 500 Afghanis of 1977

Afghanistan P21 reverse
Colossal Buddha statue niches in Bamiyan

Detective Work

Should you attempt to find UNESCO sites on banknotes, here is some of the work done for this site. Using “Bamiyan” as a search term:

The Bank Note Book, Afghanistan chapter yields all three notes (but two spelled with the alternate spelling Bamyan).
The Standard Catalog of World Paper Money (General & Modern) yields one note.
The Bank Note Museum online website yields none.
The crowd-sourced Numista yields two notes.
The crowd-sourced Banknote database yields one note.
The crowd-sourced Coinect yields one note.
The crowd-sourced Numizon yields one note, referencing details from BNB.
As can be seen from the above exercise, watch for alternate spellings!

There are two ways to categorize and tabulate all the banknotes. One is sorted by country, while the other is sorted by UNESCO site. While you might think these would be the same - it is not so! Examples:

UNESCO sites would include current and “dead” countries (countries reformed to include more/less landmass or simply renamed due to independence from being a colony) all listed together.
There are many UNESCO sites depicted on countries’ banknotes where the site is not located in the country. How about the Statute of Liberty on notes from China and the Philippines!

This reference utilizes the sort by country method. If you are looking up a specific site rather than a country’s sites, make full use of the tabulation “UNESCO Sites on Banknotes” at the end of the book. Here's a sample section of this tabulation.

UNESCO Sites & Countries Chart

There is also a “quick reference” tabulation listing all the banknotes for each country. To keep this manageable, the quick reference displays “Pick” catalog numbers by default. Bank Note book (TBB) “B” numbers are assigned to those notes too new or missing from the SCWPM. Here's a sample section of the reference. Quick Reference Chart

All known UNESCO sites shown on bank notes published in Pick (SCWPM) including the General, Specialized, and Modern Issues catalogs and The Bank Note Book (TBB) are included. Those bank notes not attributed include:

Notgeld and other bank notes released by cities.
Private banks not attributed in these catalogs. Examples include what the US calls Obsolete or Broken Bank banknotes. Other countries allowed private banks to issue their own currency, especially before the advent of central banks, such as the United Kingdom. Of course some still do and are included in both of the general references SCWPM and TBB.
So called Zero Euro notes used as replacements for bank notes as souvenirs by tourists. These are obviously not legal tender, though a great many of these depict UNESCO sites for the specialist.

With 442 pages, full use of the BOOKMARK feature with Adobe Acrobat has been utilized to make a search easier with this catalog. Here is an example:

Bookmark of Australia - Greater Blue Mountains

Like most catalogs, the full data is a moving target.

UNESCO adds new World Heritage Sites almost every year.
Occasionally UNESCO removes an entire site or a portion of a site.
Countries producing banknotes release new banknotes - on average about every 6 to 8 years.

With this catalog being the first (and only) tally of all UNESCO sites shown on banknotes, I wanted to offer FREE updated pdf files for collectors purchasing this catalog. As a collector first, I will provide these updates for 2 years from the date of purchase of the catalog to keep the reference current for a new collecting interest. When payment is made, I will note the name, email address, and date of sale to send email links to download any updated versions of the catalog.

To order an electronic download of The Complete Catalog of UNESCO World Heritage Sites on World Banknotes

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