Old town

Stralsund in Germany, an Altstadt regarded World Heritage site status by UNESCO. European old towns are easily recognizable by their density, small alleys and buildings from different eras, often even going back to Gothic times.
Traditional houses with the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Cross in the background, walled city of Nicosia.
A typical street in the old town of Limassol.
Historical Centre of Verona in Italy.

In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are many places throughout the world referred to as the old town (and this is sometimes construed as a proper noun and capitalized). This is a list of some famous old towns:

Africa

Algeria

Egypt

Kenya

Morocco

Tanzania/Zanzibar

Tunisia

Asia

Bangladesh

China

India

Japan

Malaysia

Pakistan

Philippines

Philippines as the former colony of Spain has numerous heritage structures, most notably in:

South Korea

Old town (Bukchon Hanok Village) in Seoul

Syria

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Europe

Bulgaria

Croatia

Czech Republic

Cyprus

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

The Old Town of Albi, a UNESCO World Heritage site
The old city of Besançon and the meander of the Doubs River.

The equivalent of "Old Town" in French is vieille ville, although the more formal centre historique ("historical center") is usually written on road signs.

UNESCO World Heritage old towns in France:

Other notable/famous old towns include:

Georgia

Germany

Old town (Altstadt) of Regensburg in Bavaria, a World Heritage site
Hanseatic old town of Lübeck, aerial view
Old town of Quedlinburg
Wittenberg during Luthers Hochzeit festival
Old town of Würzburg

Other notable/famous old towns include:

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Old town of Siena
Historic Centre of Rome
Venice as seen from the air
Old town of Urbino
Genoa
Vernazza, one of the towns of Cinque Terre in Liguria, Italy
Skyline of Assisi

I Borghi più belli d'Italia is an association of small Italian towns of historical interest.

Other notable old towns include:

Latvia

Lithuania

Montenegro

Netherlands

  • Oude Stad in Nijmegen
  • Oude Stad (Tilburg)

Poland

Poznań Old Town

Portugal

Romania

Serbia

Slovakia

Spain

Other notable/famous old towns include:

Sweden

Turkey

Ukraine

United Kingdom

England

Scotland

Overseas territories

Middle East

Israel

Old Jerusalem

Lebanon

Palestine

Saudi Arabia

Syria

Yemen

North America

Canada

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Puerto Rico

United States

California

Florida

  • Old Town, Florida, a town in Dixie County, not to be confused with the one in Orlando
  • Old Town Fernandina, Fernandina Beach, Florida; the last town in the Western Hemisphere to be platted according to the Spanish "Law of the Indies" in 1811; named for King Ferdinand VII
  • Old Town, Key West, the historic section of the city of Key West, Florida
  • Old Town, an amusement park/shopping center in Kissimmee, Florida

North Carolina

Tennessee

Other US states

South America

Argentina

Colombia

Ecuador

  • Quito´s Historic Center has one of the largest, least-altered and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas.[2] This center was, together with the historic centre of Kraków in Poland, the first to be declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO on 18 September 1978. The Historic Centre of Quito is located in the center south of the capital on an area of 320 hectares (790 acres), and is considered one of the most important historic areas in Latin America.There are about 130 monumental buildings (which hosts a variety of pictorial art and sculpture, mostly of religious inspired in a multi-faceted range of schools and styles) and 5,000 properties registered in the municipal inventory of heritage properties.

Uruguay

Other uses

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Neighbourhood: Old Town". Tourism Toronto. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ "City of Quito - UNESCO World Heritage". Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
  • Media related to Old towns at Wikimedia Commons
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