a further 733/1595 designations at prefectural and 4,698/6,062 at municipal level. Monuments include historic locations such as shell mounds, ancient tombs, sites of palaces, sites of forts or castles, monumental dwelling houses and other sites of high historical or scientific value; gardens, bridges, gorges, mountains, and other places of great scenic beauty; and natural features such as animals, plants, and geological or mineral formations of high scientific value. The government designates "significant" items classifying them in three categories: , , and . Items of particularly high significance receive higher classifications: , , and respectively. Alterations to the existing state of a site or activities affecting its preservation require permission from the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs. Financial support for purchasing and conserving designated land and for the utilization of the site is available through local governments. As of 1 February 2012, there were 1,667 (60) Historic Sites; 331 (30) Places of Scenic Beauty; and 953 (72) Natural Monuments (including Special Natural Monuments). There were a further 6,195 designations at prefectural and 24,598 at municipal level. A single designation can be classed under more than one of these categories; the number is for primary classification (for instance Hamarikyū Gardens in Tokyo are classed as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, with a secondary classification as a Special Historic Site; for the purpose of these counts it would be a Special Place of Scenic Beauty). Cultural Landscapes are landscapes which have evolved together with the people who inhabit them and with the geocultural features of a region, and which are indispensable to understand the lifestyle of the Japanese. They can be terraced rice fields, mountain villages, waterways and the like. Items of particular importance can be designated as Important Cultural Landscapes. As of 1 February 2012, 30 areas in Japan have been designated Important Cultural Landscapes, with a further 7 designations at prefectural and 101 at municipal level. Groups of Traditional Buildings is a category introduced by a 1975 amendment of the law which mandates the protection of groups of traditional buildings which, together with their environment, form a beautiful scenery. They can be post towns, castle towns, mining towns, merchant quarters, ports, farming or fishing villages, etc. Municipalities can designate items of particular importance as Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings and approve measures to protect them. Items of even higher importance are then designated Important Preservation Districts for Groups of