Golden Mountains of Altai
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How it came to be
The Altai mountains of southern Siberia are the main range of western Siberia and the source of its greatest rivers, the Ob and the Irtysh. The World Heritage site of the Golden Mountains of Altai takes in the Altai and Katun nature reserves, Lake Teletskoye, Mount Belukha and the Ukok Plateau, 16,178 square kilometres in all.
It holds the most complete sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central Siberia, from steppe and forest-steppe through mixed forest and subalpine vegetation to alpine meadows. Globally endangered mammals live here, among them the snow leopard, the Altai argali and the Siberian ibex.
The site was listed for its nature, but the permafrost also preserves frozen burial mounds of the nomadic Scythians, with metalwork, tattooed mummies and sacrificed horses. The Ukok Plateau is sacred to the Altai people, and excavation there is contested. The site was inscribed in 1998.
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