George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site
The UNESCO World legacy Site of George Town contains some of Malaysia’s best restored and re-adaptive traditional architecture, as well as a plethora of legacy trades and arts.
The world-famous ‘Street of Harmony’ illustrates the influence of the various communities that have settled in Penang. The George Town World Heritage Site is small enough at 2.5 square kilometers to be explored on foot, bicycle, or trishaw.
Outstanding Universal Values (OUVs) in George Town
According to UNESCO, the city is a rare example of a multicultural trading town in Southeast Asia, built by the commerce and civilization exchanges of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and European influences.
(109.38 hectares) Core Zone
The Historic City of George Town is 109.38ha in size, surrounded to the north-east by the Straits of Malacca, to the north-west by Lorong Love (Love Lane), and to the south-west by Gat Lebuh Melayu, Lorong Carnarvon, and Lebuh Carnarvon. There are more than 1,700 historic buildings within this Core Zone aligned on four main streets of Pengkalan Weld, Lebuh Pantai, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, and Lorong Love, as well as several perpendicular streets of Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah, Lebuh Light, Lebuh Bishop, Lebuh Gereja, Lebuh China, Lebuh Pasar, Lebuh Chulia, Lebuh Armenian and Lebuh Acheh.
(150.04 hectares) buffer zone
The Core Zone is surrounded by 150.04ha of Buffer Zone (not counting sea buffer), which is confined to the south-west corner by a stretch of sea area, to the north-west corner by Jalan Transfer, and to the south-west corner by Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong and Gat Jalan Prangin.