Washington/Quebec City  - Two thousand four hundred years after Ionian Greeks colonized the Croatian island of Hvar, the original crops of grapes and olives continue to grow on the Stari Grad Plain.

The landscape was named a World Heritage site on Monday by the UNESCO committee meeting in Quebec City, where the panel said ancient stone walls and shelters still bear "testimony to the ancient geometrical system of land division" used by ancient Greeks.

The plain has "remained virtually intact over 24 centuries," the committee said. (dpa)