News

Friday, December 21, 2007
Best Wishes from the World Heritage Centre
A turreted castle in the icescape of Antarctica evokes not just the sublime beauty of nature but also its impermanence. Preserving this fragile balance between nature and human activity is at the heart of the World Heritage Convention and our ...

Thursday, December 20, 2007
United Nations 62nd General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy
On 20 December 2007, the United Nations 62nd General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy. UNESCO was designated as the lead agency and focal point for the Year.The UNESCO Thematic Initiative “Astronomy and World ...

Friday, December 7, 2007
Sundarbans World Heritage site devastated by cyclone, according to UNESCO experts who visited the site
Bangladesh was struck by a powerful cyclone on November 15 which left more than 3,000 people dead and millions without shelter. While a major international relief effort is currently underway to respond Cyclone Sidr's devastating impact on ...

Friday, December 7, 2007
UNESCO regrets U.K. government's decision to cancel A303 road improvement scheme for Stonehenge World Heritage property
UNESCO regrets the U.K. government's decision to cancel the A303 Stonehenge Road Improvement scheme on the basis of cost concerns and hopes that another solution will be found to relieve traffic congestion around the World Heritage property ...

Friday, December 7, 2007
Renewed fighting threatens mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park
Heavy fighting broke out again on December 3, 2007 between the DRC army and rebel forces of general Nkunda north of the city of Goma, in North Kivu.  Heavy shelling and gunfire is taking place in the immediate vicinity of the heart of the ...

Friday, December 7, 2007
Brasilia celebrates 20th anniversary as World Heritage site
UNESCO and the Federal District Government held a ceremony on 7 December 2007 to celebrate 20 years of Brasilia's inscription as a World Heritage site. ‘We will strive with all our efforts to ensure that Brasilia, which is the only ...

Monday, December 3, 2007
Final “Sharing our Heritages” (SOH) master class in France and Belgium
Over the past two years the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO has defined a strategy that aims to encourage universities worldwide to develop World Heritage studies and curricula. In this framework, UNESCO WHC is associated with a three-year ...

Friday, November 30, 2007
Djibouti ratifies the World Heritage Convention
On 30 August 2007, the Government of Djibouti officially deposited with the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, its instrument of ratification, becoming the 185th State Party to adopt the Convention concerning the Protection of the ...

Monday, November 26, 2007
Inscription of Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
The official ceremony  to mark the inscription of the Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof on the World Heritage List took place at the historical Reichssaal on 24 November 2007 in the presence of 300 invited guests. Thousands of local ...

Thursday, November 15, 2007
UNESCO regrets decision on construction of bridge that threatens delisting of Dresden Elbe Valley from World Heritage List
UNESCO regrets the decision of a German court to authorize the construction of a bridge likely to lead to the deletion of the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany)* from the World Heritage List. The status of the property on the ...

Monday, November 5, 2007
Award of five UNESCO-Vocations Patrimoine fellowships to meet new economic and safeguarding challenges of heritage
Five young heritage professionals from around the world received UNESCO-Vocations Patrimoine fellowships to pursue post graduate research at University College Dublin (Ireland) and at the Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus (Germany). ...

Monday, November 5, 2007
Anna Amalia Library re-opens after extensive restoration
The Anna Amalia Library, part of Germany's Classical Weimar World Heritage site, re-opened to the public on October 24 after extensive restoration work following a devastating fire in 2004. The official opening was hosted by German President ...

Monday, November 5, 2007
Restored Venaria Reale Palace re-opens
The Baroque palace of Venaria Reale, built by the Savoy dynasty outside the city of Turin, has been re-opened to the public after eight years of restoration works. The palace is one of a group of buildings inscribed on the World Heritage List in ...

Friday, October 26, 2007
Nine new members elected to World Heritage Committee
Nine new members have been elected to the 21-member World Heritage Committee in charge of implementing UNESCO's Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, China, ...

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Members elected to World Heritage Committee
The 16th General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention elected 5 new members to the World Heritage Committee. The following States Parties were elected: Australia, Bahrain, China and Egypt. Barbados was elected to the seat ...

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
[in French only] 16e Assemblée générale des Etats parties à la Convention du Patrimoine mondial
[in French only] Le Directeur général a ouvert, le 24 octobre 2007, la 16e session de l'Assemblée générale des Etats parties à la Convention de 1972, qui compte désormais 185 Etats Parties.Dans son discours d'ouverture, Koïchiro Matsuura ...

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2008 Now Available
The UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary 2008 has just been published. Featuring a useful week-at-a-glance design, it is illustrated with 77 colour photos of World Heritage sites, each accompanied with a short caption. It also introduces the ...

Thursday, October 4, 2007
Terrorist attacks damage Pakistan Buddha
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre was informed of two attacks on an ancient rock carving of a seated Buddha located near Janabad in north-west Pakistan, a region known for its ancient Buddhist heritage and archaeological sites. According to ...

Thursday, October 4, 2007
International Melina Mercouri Prize awarded to Russian Federation's Borodino Battlefield
At a ceremony held today at UNESCO Headquarters Mrs Françoise Rivière, Assistant Director-General for Culture, gave the award for the International Melina Mercouri Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes (UNESCO-Greece) ...

Monday, October 1, 2007
[in French only] Newsletter n° 7 de la Convention France-UNESCO
[in French only] Actualités sur l'avancement des projets :Turin, Italie: Réunion technique d'urgence sur le site du patrimoine mondial du Minaret de Djam (Afghanistan), 24 - 25 juillet 2007Paris, France: Atelier de travail pour la mise ...