The World Heritage Convention (WHC) is the most comprehensive and widely ratified among UNESCO treaties on the protection of cultural and natural heritage. The Convention establishes a system of identification, presentation and registration in an international list of cultural properties and natural sites of outstanding universal value. What is the meaning of outstanding universal value? How far can we construe universal value in terms of different geographic regions and cultural traditions of the world? What is the relationship between world heritage and sovereignty of the territorial state? This article-by-article analysis of the WHC examines these and other questions and is the first comprehensive work to deal with the issues that have arisen in the interpretation and application of the WHC.