Activities

OWHC Case Studies on the Conservation and Management of Historic Cities
Reconciling Heritage Conservation and Urban Development The Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) holds a specific responsibility for the promotion and implementation of the World Heritage Convention in its Member Cities.Given this responsibility and based on the ...

UNESCO for Haiti
Making Culture a Motor for Reconstruction Haiti, the "land of a thousand colours" ‎ "Haiti will certainly not die, because its painters started painting again, its poets started creating, its singers composing, its writers writing, and stories started circulating, very ...

Emergency consolidation and Restoration of Monuments in Herat and Jam, Phase I and II
The project aims at the emergency consolidation, conservation and restoration of the Minaret of Jam and The Fifth Minaret in Herat. Expected results: Consolidated and rehabilitated Minaret of Jam and Fifth Minaret in Herat Increased national capacity in the ...

Repairing of the protective roof over the ruins of the Mosque of Haji Pyada, Balkh
The Mosque of Haji Pyada, built in the second half of the 9th century, is the most ancient Islamic religious structure in Afghanistan. Its form, a small square divided into nine equal sections covered with domes, can be found in other early mosques in Mesopotamia, Egypt and ...

Successful completion of a two-year pilot project to inventory, conserve and restore ...
Financed by the US Contribution to UNESCO, the US$250,000 pilot project for the documentation and conservation of Kabul Museum’s endangered collections produced inventories of objects that survived the years of war, trained staff in conservation techniques and restored ...

UNESCO/Swiss Funds in-Trust Emergency consolidation of the monuments in Jam
Following the inscription of the Minaret and archaeological remains of Jam in the 'World Heritage List' and the 'List of the World Heritage in Danger' in 2002, the Government of Switzerland has decided to generously fund to the conservation of the Minaret and its ...

In Europe
Tangible Heritage in Europe

Mozambique : Rehabilitation Project of the San Sebastian Fortress, Island of Mozambique
UNESCO and the Government of Mozambique signed an agreement in 2003 for the rehabilitation of the San Sebastian Fortress, the most emblematic monument on the Island of Mozambique, a site inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991. Built in the 16th century by the ...

The restoration of King Gbehanzin Palace – Royal Palaces of Abomey
Edited by Junzo Kawada, Published by CRATerre-ENSAG and UNESCO World Heritage Centre. This publication describes the first restoration project of a World Heritage site in Benin, financed through a cooperation agreement between Japan and UNESCO. It contains articles by the ...

Adadi Maryam
This rock-hewn church is a 600-year-old sanctuary in the building tradition of the northern part of Ethiopia, and marks the advent of Christianity in the southern part of Adadi Mariam, badly damaged by time, has been strengthened and restored with the aid of Switzerland.

Gondar -Palaces and castles
During unsettled periods between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, Ethiopian rulers moved their royal camps frequently. King Fasil (Fasiledes) settled in Gondar and established it as a permanent capital in 1636. After Fasil, successive kings continued building, ...

Harar- The walled town
The town of Harar dates from before the thirteenth century. Its strategic location between the coastal lowlands and central highlands led to its development as an important centre of Islamic culture and commerce. A period of instability led to a loss of its traditional power ...

Lalibela - Rock-hewn churches
Following the decline of the Aksumite Empire, power shifted in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to Roha in Lasta District. This was renamed for King Lalibela (1181-1221) of the Zagwe Dynasty which ruled in Lalibela for more than a century. The construction of eleven ...

Monuments of Nubia-International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia
In 1954 the decision to build the Aswan High Dam was made. This dam would lead to the creation of a huge artificial lake covering the Upper Nile Valley from Aswan in Egypt to the Dal Cataract in Sudan - a culturally extremely rich area, which has been known as Nubia since ...

Conservation and Restoration of the Royal Plaza, the Bayon and Angkor Wat
Following four preliminary survey missions fielded by the Japanese Government in response to the request of the Royal Government of Cambodia, the Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor (JSA) was set up in 1994 under the leadership of Professor NAKAZAWA from Waseda ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina- Operational project on the rehabilitation plan for the historic centre ...
In December 1995, the Director-General of UNESCO and the representative of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Government signed a Cooperation Memorandum providing for the preparation of reconstruction and restoration projects in the fields of UNESCORegarding cultural heritage, the ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Kriva Cuprija bridge of Mostar
Beside the famous Stari Most (Old Bridge), a genuine symbol of the town destroyed in 1993, there is another ancient bridge in Mostar: the Kriva Cuprija (or the Crooked Bridge). It crosses the Rabobolja creek, a right-bank affluent of the Neretva River. The exact date of its ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Stari Most, Old bridge of Mostar
The "Old Bridge" enhanced the town's development and prosperity. It was its raison d'être. Despite reinforcement works sometimes incompatible with modern restoration principles, this construction was in a perfect state of conservation before the outbreak of ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina- Tabacica Mosque
This historical mosque, situated in the vicinity of the Old Bridge, in the most touristic part of Mostar, was built c. 1600. This monocameral mosque had a rectangular plan a roof of slates and a slender minaret, twenty metres high. A wooden porch marked the entrance. This ...

Arco del Paradiso
In the sestiere or district of Castello, at the entrance to the calle del Paradiso, so called because of the splendid illuminations on festival nights, there is an elegant Gothic arch surmounted by a triangular spire and decorated on the side fronting the canal. The Madonna ...