The passage tomb landscape of County Sligo has been included on the new World Heritage Tentative List for Ireland
It was one of three successful applications to be included.
The Tentative List is an inventory of natural and cultural heritage sites that may have potential to demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value and therefore considered suitable for nomination to the World Heritage List.
It is a precondition for nomination that a site must be on the Tentative List for at least one year before work can formally begin on a nomination dossier.
A site can be inscribed on the World Heritage List only if the World Heritage Committee determines it is of Outstanding Universal Value for all of humanity.
The passage tomb landscape of Sligo is said to represent the most westerly and one of the most dramatic expressions of a remarkable flourishing of the construction of ritual monuments across Europe between five and six millennia ago.
The interconnectivity of stone monuments and varied local topographies – typically involving upland cairns and megalithic tombs with high intervisibility across striking landscapes – is said to be a potent expression of a long disappeared cultural milieu, which fostered an intense and enduring dialogue between architecture and landscape that remains unmatched in world terms.
