News

Forty of the world’s leading experts on earthen architecture—which serves as habitat for up to one third of the world’ population—will exchange experiences about the preservation of this often remarkable and always sustainable heritage in a meeting at UNESCO Headquarters on 17 and 18 December (RoomXI). The International Colloquium on the Conservation of World ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, paid tribute to the great Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, who died on Wednesday, 5 December, at the age of 104. "Oscar Niemeyer helped define the 20th century and lay the foundations for the 21st -- for all this, he deserves the title of universal artist. As a founder of modern architecture, he gave the cities he loved iconic buildings, ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Panasonic Corporation present the new tablet PC edition of the 2013 World Heritage calendar. Featuring stunning photographs of World Heritage sites from around the world, the tablet app joins the paper and online versions of the popular calendar. The tablet PC app calendar also includes fun facts about World Heritage sites in English, Chinese, French, ...

The World Heritage Centre, with the support from the Flanders Government, has embarked on the development a comprehensive and integrated information system on the state of conservation of World Heritage properties. This information is now public and hosted on the World Heritage Centre’s website. This public tool has a multi-criteria search form in order to extract specific data according to ...

The latest version of the World Heritage map, produced by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and National Geographic Maps with the generous support of Cambodia, can now be ordered for a modest fee from the World Heritage Centre website. The featured image on the Map presents Angkor in Cambodia, where the next session of the World Heritage Committee will be held (June 2013). This poster-sized ...

The final meeting in the Second Cycle of the Periodic Report on the State of World Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean will take place from 3 to 5 December in Santiago, Chile. The objective of the meeting is to draw up a World Heritage Action Plan (2013-2020) for this region. The activity is in compliance with Decision 36 COM 10C, approved by the World Heritage Committee at its 36th ...

25 years of Council of Europe cultural routes celebrated in Colmar, France, 21-23 November 2012 The Colmar Forum, organized by the secretariat of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes and the European Institute of Cultural Routes marked 25 years of existence of the Council of Europe’s cultural routes programme. It was attended by around 130 people, representing the 24 ...

The 3rd Expert Working Group Meeting  for the Old City of Herat and the World Heritage property of Jam (Afghanistan), met at the Museo d’ Arte Orientale in Turin, Italy,  from 4 to 6 September 2012, released a set of recommendations for future safeguarding actions for the two sites. The Meeting brought together more than 30 well-known experts and high-ranking officials from the government of ...

The World Heritage Convention, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on 16 November 1972, turns 40 today. The only treaty for heritage preservation that englobes both cultural and natural sites, the Convention has been almost universally ratified, with 190 States Parties. There are currently 962 sites on the World Heritage List, 745 of them cultural, 188 natural and 29 mixed (both cultural ...

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, Eastern National and the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs have produced the new booklet "World Heritage Sites in the United States". The booklet highlights the 21 sites in the United States that have been selected and inscribed on the World Heritage List for their natural or cultural ...

The Closing Event of the 40thAnniversary of the World Heritage Convention concluded today in Kyoto, Japan, after three days of presentations and lively panel discussions among international World Heritage experts. Held from 6 to 8 November, the occasion was the culmination of a year of celebratory activities around the world, gathering more than 500 international heritage experts from 60 ...

In the framework of Document WHC-12/36.COM/10C and Decision 36 COM 10C adopted by the World Heritage Committee at its 36th session (Saint Petersburg, 2012), the final meeting of the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting Exercise for Latin America and the Caribbean will take place in Santiago de Chile, Chile from 3-5 December 2012. As the final meeting for the Region, it will involve the ...

Preparations are being completed in Chile, where almost everything is ready, for the final meeting of the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting Exercise for Latin America and the Caribbean that will take place in Santiago de Chile from 2 to 5 December 2012. The primary objectives of this meeting will be the development of the 2013-2020 Regional Action Plan and also the preparation of a ...

The Cuban National Cultural Heritage Council (CNPC) and the Cuban National Ballet (BNC) offered last October 30 a gala performance on the 40th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, parallel to the 33rd International Havana Ballet Festival. This major cultural event was attended by BNC director Alicia Alonso, His Excellency Mr. ...

The opening ceremony of the Closing Event taking place in Kyoto from 6 to 8 November featured a performance by UNESCO Artist for Peace Sarah Brightman, and a traditional drum performance by the Japanese group Hi Ryu (Flying Dragon). The Chairperson of the event, Ambassador Masuo Nishibayashi, and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova opened the celebration, along with Kazuyuki Hamada, ...

A three-day event in Kyoto, Japan, will mark the end of a year-long worldwide celebration of the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention from 6 to 8 November. The Convention, which was adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference on 16 November 1972, is the most widely accepted treaty for cultural and natural heritage preservation in the world with 190 States Parties, and 962 ...

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, over 300 delegates, including 16 African Ministers of Culture, Tourism, Environment and Home Affairs as well as representatives from the African Union, the African World Heritage Fund and experts in cultural and natural heritage from across the continent and around the world actively participated in a high-level ...

The Historic Town of Vigan (Philippines), inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999, has been recognized as a model of best practices in World Heritage site management, at the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. The distinction will be officially announced and a certificate presented to the Mayor of Vigan, Ms Eva Marie S. Medina, during the closing event of ...

Thirty-four young messengers (participants) from over 20 different marine World Heritage sites around the world gathered in Hyderabad from 6 to 15 October as part of the International Youth Forum Go4BioDiv. The Forum is the largest youth initiative for both IUCN and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and gives young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 the possibility to ...

Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO today denounced the renewed destruction of mausoleums in northern Mali, near the World Heritage city of Timbuktu. “This new act of destruction marks an escalation of violence and testifies of the deliberate will to erase symbols of a tolerant and open Islam, deeply enshrined in this region of Sahel. This is an inacceptable attack against the ...