HERITAGE RECORD · 1021

Tsodilo

措迪洛山

The official record, selection criteria and sourced cultural context.

World Heritage record

With one of the highest concentrations of rock art in the world, Tsodilo has been called the ''Louvre of the Desert''. Over 4,500 paintings are preserved in an area of only 10 km2 of the Kalahari Desert. The archaeological record of the area gives a chronological account of human activities and environmental changes over at least 100,000 years. Local communities in this hostile environment respect Tsodilo as a place of worship frequented by ancestral spirits.

Open the official UNESCO record ↗

Wikidata reference

QIDQ214007 ↗

Area4800 ha

Administrative areaQ57617

WikipediaTsodilo ↗

Chinese Wikipedia措迪洛山 ↗

Imported locally from Wikidata; it does not replace the UNESCO record or editorial copy.

Selection criteria

This property was inscribed under the following World Heritage Convention criteria.

(i)A masterpiece of human creative genius.

(iii)A unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or civilisation.

Cultural archive

Record lead

UNESCO record lead

Brief synthesis Located in north-west Botswana near the Namibian Border in Okavango Sub-District, the Tsodilo Hills are a small area of massive quartzite rock formations that rise from ancient sand dunes to the east and a dry fossil lake bed to the west in the Kalahari Desert.

Source-led archive lead · 86%Source ↗

Make a photograph with this siteChoose a photo and try different layouts, ratios and filters locally.