News

UNESCO and Iraq today signed an agreement for the Conservation and Management of the World Heritage site of Samarra Archaeological City, which will start with the restauration of the Great Mosque and Al-Malwiyah Minaret. The site has been on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger since 2007. The agreement was signed at UNESCO’s Headquarters in Paris by Ahmed Abdullah Abed Abed, Iraqi ...

European Union and UNESCO initiative: "Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid Region" IUCN Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) is seeking to contract a consultant to develop and implement an integrated capacity-building programme with particular emphasis on management effectiveness, transboundary ...

From 3 to 4 July 2015, almost 120 people that are involved in the management of the World Heritage site Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems (France) met on the island of Ouvéa (Gossanah tribe) to share best practices. Unique management system Today, 13 management committees are set up across New Caledonia. They regularly exchange views, opinions and proposals ...

Timbuktu, Mali, 19 July—The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova yesterday visited Timbuktu whose mausoleums have been rebuilt three years after they were destroyed by armed groups. During her visit, Ms Bokova paid tribute to the local communities without whom the reconstruction could not have been carried out. The Mayor of the city and the Imam of the Great Mosque of Djingareyber met ...

Aggtelek National Park (ANP) was established in 1985 to protect the uniquely rich natural and cultural heritage in the region, and in particular the Gömör-Torna karst aquifer and geologic formations. The first of Hungary's national parks, it later added equestrian tourism and environmental education programmes to its already popular cave tours and surface tours. In 2007, the ANP Directorate ...

The call for applications for the new edition of the Masters in "World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development", offered by the University of Turin, the Polytechnic of Turin, (University of Barcelona for the Spanish edition)  and the International Training Centre of ILO, in collaboration with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and ICCROM, is now open. The programme is intended for ...

Director-General Irina Bokova presented the President of Mexico, HE Enrique Peña Nieto, the certificate of inscription to UNESCO’s World Heritage List of the Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic System during his official visit to UNESCO Headquarters today. The presentation of the certificate took place in the context of an official ceremony in the presence of the Chairperson of the ...

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today announced an Emergency Action Plan for the Safeguarding of Yemen’s Cultural Heritage upon the conclusion of a two-day expert meeting held at UNESCO. The plan responds to the continued threat the ongoing conflict poses to the country’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage. “It is evident that the destruction of their culture directly affects the ...

A World Heritage partners’ event and panel discussion took place on 2nd July hosted by the German Television Deutsche Welle in Bonn, on the occasion of the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee. The Partners' event, following a successful first edition in Doha in 2015, provided a platform for discussing private sector partners’ contributions to World Heritage conservation and ...

The World Heritage Committee ended its meeting today announcing it will hold its next session in Istanbul, Turkey, from 10 to 20 July 2016. During this year’s session the Committee, which was chaired by Maria Böhmer, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office and member of the Bundestag, inscribed 24 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and approved extensions to three ...

From July 1 to 3, 2015, University of Zimbabwe hosted the Biennial Conference of the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA). With the financial support of UNESCO Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) and other partners, UZ successfully met the challenge of gathering a large number (approximately 250) of professionals and students from Southern African Region and ...

The World Heritage Committee this afternoon approved the inscription of four cultural sites on the World Heritage List: Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining in Japan, Ephesus in Turkey, Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic System in Mexico, and Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape in Uruguay. The Committee also approved the ...

The World Heritage Committee this morning approved the inscription of five cultural sites on World Heritage List: Rjukan-Notodden Industrial Heritage Site in Norway, Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus in Germany, Necropolis of Beth She’arim—a Landmark of Jewish Revival in Israel, The Forth Bridge in Scotland (United Kingdom) and San Antonio Missions in the United States of ...

The World Heritage Committee this afternoon approved the inscription of five cultural sites on World Heritage List. Two Danish sites were added to the List: Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church Settlement and The Par Force Hunting Landscape in North Zealand. The Climats, terroirs of Burgundy and Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars, both in France, were also inscribed alongside the Diyarbakir ...

The World Heritage Committee this morning approved the inscription of six cultural sites on World Heritage List: Tusi Sites (China), Susa, Cultural Landscape of Maymand (both in the Islamic Republic of Iran), Singapore Botanic Gardens (Singapore), Baekje Historic Areas (Republic of Korea), Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding sacred landscape (Mongolia). Tusi sites (China) — ...

The World Heritage Committee inscribed three new cultural sites on the World Heritage List this afternoon: Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale in Italy; Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” (Al-Maghtas) in Jordan and Rock Art in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia. Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale (Italy)—Located on the ...

The Director-General of UNESCO firmly condemned the destruction of cultural property at Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, particularly damage to funerary busts and the famous Lion Statue of Athena, located at the entrance of the museum of Palmyra. "These new destructions of cultural goods of the site of Palmyra reflect the brutality and ignorance of extremist groups and their disregard ...

The World Heritage Committee this morning approved the extension of two natural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List: Cape Floral Region Protected Areas in South Africa and Ke Bang National Park in Viet Nam. The Committee also inscribed Blue and John Crow Mountains in Jamaica, a mixed site, i.e. one that is both cultural and natural. With this inscription Jamaica enters the World ...

The World Heritage Committee today inscribed two sites in Yemen on the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Old City of Sana’a and the Old Walled City of Shibam. The Old City of Sana’a sustained serious damage due to armed conflict in the country. The neighbourhood of al Qasimi near the famous urban garden of Miqshamat al Qasimi sustained particularly serious damage. The 12th century ...

The World Heritage site of Hatra in Iraq has been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to damage inflicted to the property by armed groups. During debates today, many World Heritage Committee members voiced concern about the state of Iraqi heritage following acts of intentional destruction. They also declared their willingness to help Iraq as soon as the situation on the ...

UNESCO and UNITAR (the UN Institute for Training and Research) have signed an agreement to protect cultural and natural heritage sites with the latest geo-spatial technologies.  It was signed at the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, and will be delivered through UNITAR’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). The strategic partnership will ...