News

With the support of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Swiss luxury watch manufacture, the World Heritage Marine Programme will begin a series of conservation activities aimed at identifying, monitoring and preserving marine sites around the world. This partnership is being promoted through a series of articles entitled ‘Tides of time’ published by the International Herald Tribune, also a partner ...

“The reinstallation of the Aksum Obelisk is a source of pride for UNESCO,” said Assistant Director-General for Culture, Françoise Rivière, during the official inauguration ceremony of the Aksum Obelisk in its original site in northern Ethiopia on 4 September. “It is a technical achievement but it is also a source of pride because it shows that cultural ...

[in French only] Actualités sur l'avancement des projets de la Convention France Unesco. Saint Louis du Sénégal : Suivi de projet. « Niger - Loire : gouvernance et culture », projet européen. « Villages antiques » du nord de la Syrie : atelier de travail et sensibilisation. idlib, 11-12 avril 2008. Riga, Lettonie : cooperation riga, ...

Aksum, August 1 - The third and last block of the Aksum Obelisk was successfully mounted by the UNESCO teams yesterday 31 July in its original location in Ethiopia. The monument’s reinstallation was greeted with joy by the local people, who spontaneously organized musical concerts yesterday at the site. Weighing 150 tons and 24 meters high, the obelisk is the second largest stela on ...

In the framework of the Aksum Obelisk reinstallation project funded by Italy, the second block of the Aksum Obelisk was successfully installed on 25 July 2008. The first phase of the re-installation works of the Aksum Obelisk, also known as Stele 2, in its original location at the World Heritage site in Aksum, Ethiopia was completed on 12 June 2008. The first and second of three blocks of ...

The World Heritage Committee has asked that “reinforced monitoring” be applied to four properties on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in addition to the seven for which the surveillance mechanism is already in place. Under the new monitoring mechanism, established by the World Heritage Committee in 2007, regular missions can be dispatched to World Heritage sites subjected to ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 32nd session, finished inscribing new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 8 July with the addition of 19 cultural sites and eight natural sites to the List. New cultural sites inscribed during the 32nd session: Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia) Fujian Tulou (China) Stari Grad Plain (Croatia) Historic Centre of Camagüey ...

The Bahá’i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee (Israel) are inscribed for the testimony they provide to the Bahá’i’s strong tradition of pilgrimage and for their profound meaning for the faith. The property numbers 26 buildings, monuments and sites at 11 locations in Acre and Haifa, associated with the founders of the faith, among them the Shrine of the ...

The World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 32nd session, inscribed 13 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in the afternoon and evening of 7 July. The nomination of new sites for inscription on the World Heritage List will continue tomorrow morning, 8 July.The new sites inscribed are: Preah Vihear Temple (Cambodia). Situated on the edge of a plateau that dominates the plain of ...

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec City has added eight new cultural sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List on the morning of the 7 of July. With these inscriptions, Papua New Guinea and San Marino enter the World Heritage List for the first time. The new sites inscribed are: Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia) have developed over ...

Fortified Armenian monasteries in Iran were added to the new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 6 July. The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iran, in the north-west of the country, consists of three monastic ensembles of the Armenian Christian faith: St Thaddeus and St Stepanos and the Chapel of Dzordzor. These edifices - the oldest of which, St Thaddeus, dates back to ...

The mountain of Le Morne, a former hideout of runaway slaves in Mauritius, a Nabataean archaeological site in Saudi Arabia and earthen houses in Fujian Province in China have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.Le Morne Cultural Landscape, a rugged mountain that juts into the Indian Ocean in the southwest of Mauritius was used as a shelter by runaway slaves, maroons, through ...

On July 1st the Galápagos National Park announced that the parasite causing avian malaria was found in several Galápagos penguins by researchers studying the presence and distribution of diseases in Galápagos birds. Immediate follow-up studies are needed to document the proportion of birds infected with the parasite throughout the four-island distribution of the penguin, ...

The World Heritage Committee has decided to retain Dresden Elbe Valley on UNESCO World Heritage List in the hope that the building of a four-lane bridge across the valley will be stopped and work undertaken to reverse damage caused to the integrity of the landscape of the German site. The Committee said it regretted the construction of the bridge underway and urged the authorities to opt for ...

The 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee opened on July 2nd with an official ceremony in Quebec City, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary. Grand Chief Max Gros-Louis of the Huron-Wendat First Nation opened the ceremony with the performance of a purification ritual before Christina Cameron, Chairperson of the 32nd session, welcomed participants saying that “Canada’s ...

The first phase of the re-installation works of the Aksum Obelisk, also known as Stele 2, in its original location at the World Heritage site in Aksum, Ethiopia was completed on 12 June 2008. The first of three blocks of the stele, which stands 24.3 metres high and weighs 152 tons, was successfully and smoothly mounted. The Aksum Obelisk re-installation project, funded by the Italian ...

The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List when it meets for its 32nd session in Québec, Canada, from 2 to 10 July. During this year’s session, hosted by Canada to coincide with the 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of Québec City, 41 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention ...

The "Policy document on the impacts of climate change on World Heritage properties", adopted by the 16th General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention, has been published in English and French.The document was prepared with the participation of relevant climate change experts and practitioners of heritage conservation and management, appropriate international ...

In coordination with the release of the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Friends of World Heritage (the UN Foundation, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Expedia, Inc.) have joined forces with Indiana Jones for an online campaign and contest to promote World Heritage education and sustainable travel. More than a dozen World Heritage sites have been featured in ...

Officials continue to assess the damage following the devastating May 12 earthquake in China, where approximately 69,000 people were killed and 19,000 are still missing. The 8.0 magnitude quake affected Sichuan Province in southwest China. The worst affected areas were two counties where two World Heritage sites are located: The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries and the Mount Qingcheng and the ...