Property: My Son Sanctuary
Id. N°: 949
State Party: Viet Nam
Criteria: C (ii) (iii)
The Committee inscribed this property on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii) and (iii):
Criterion (ii): The My Son Sanctuary is an exceptional example of cultural interchange, with an indigenous society adapting to external cultural influences, notably the Hindu art and architecture of the Indian sub-continent.
Criterion (iii): The Champa Kingdom was an important phenomenon in the political and cultural history of South-East Asia, vividly illustrated by the ruins of My Son.
The Delegate of China, speaking on behalf of all Asian and Pacific delegates, members of the Committee, warmly supported this nomination. He expressed the satisfaction of the twentythird extraordinary session of the Bureau in respecting the wish of the State Party with regard to the name and size of the property.
The Delegate of Thailand, underlining that appropriate criteria, and not the numbers of criteria, was important in defining the World Heritage values of properties, requested the advisory bodies to strictly apply appropriate criteria for properties to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Committee took note of the Delegate's request that the International Expert Meeting on the Operational Guidelines (April 2000) take this into consideration when revising criteria within the Operational Guidelines.
The Observer of Vietnam thanked the Committee for its decision and informed the Committee about the growing awareness of World Heritage in his country.