UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia has 1 site on the UNESCO World Heritage List (1 natural), the first inscribed in 2004 (Pitons). The map below plots it alongside the rest of the List, and each site is written up in full further down the page.
- World Heritage Sites
- 1
- Cultural
- 0
- Natural and Mixed
- 1
- First Inscribed
- 2004
Map of World Heritage Sites in Saint Lucia
CulturalNaturalMixedIn DangerLarge dots are in Saint Lucia. Click a dot to read about the site.
Pitons
Saint Lucia · 13.8071° N, 61.0704° W · 29 km² · 23 km from Castries
The Pitons are two mountainous volcanic plugs, volcanic spires, located in Saint Lucia. Petit Piton is 743 m (2,438 ft) high and Gros Piton is 798.25 m (2,618.9 ft) high; they are linked by the Piton Mitan ridge. Piton means mountain peak in French, so Petit and Gros Piton respectively refer to the smaller and larger peak. The Pitons are a World Heritage Site, 2,909 ha (7,190 acres) in size, and located near the town of Soufrière.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Pitons (Saint Lucia) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Why Pitons Is Listed
- (vii)
- Superlative natural phenomena or exceptional natural beauty.
- (viii)
- An outstanding example of major stages of the Earth's history.
More about Pitons
UNESCO's Description
The 2,909-ha site near the town of Soufriere includes the Pitons, two volcanic spires rising side by side from the sea (770 m and 743 m high respectively), linked by the Piton Mitan ridge. The volcanic complex includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. Coral reefs cover almost 60% of the site’s marine area. A survey has revealed 168 species of finfish, 60 species of cnidaria, including corals, eight molluscs, 14 sponges, 11 echinoderms, 15 arthropods and eight annelid worms. The dominant terrestrial vegetation is tropical moist forest grading to subtropical wet forest, with small areas of dry forest and wet elfin woodland on the summits. At least 148 plant species have been recorded on Gros Piton, 97 on Petit Piton and the intervening ridge, among them eight rare tree species. The Gros Piton is home to some 27 bird species (five of them endemic), three indigenous rodents, one opossum, three bats, eight reptiles and three amphibians.
From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).
World Heritage in Saint Lucia: Quick Answers
- How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in Saint Lucia?
- Saint Lucia has 1 World Heritage Site: 1 natural.
- What was the first World Heritage Site in Saint Lucia?
- Pitons, inscribed in 2004.
- What are the natural World Heritage Sites in Saint Lucia?
- Pitons.
- Are any World Heritage Sites in Saint Lucia in danger?
- None of the World Heritage Sites in Saint Lucia is on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.