News

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its sincere condolences to the friends and family of Professor Philip Vallentine Tobias, who passed away on Thursday, 7 June 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Professor Tobias, born on 14 October 1925, was an exceptional paleoanthropologist and an inspiration to generations of students. He was internationally renowned for his commitment ...

Professor Herb Stovel, one of the world’s most renowned experts in heritage conservation, recently passed away in Ottawa, Canada. During his long career, Professor Stovel made an outstanding contribution to heritage conservation and to the World Heritage Convention in particular. As a scholar and a teacher of exceptional intellectual curiosity and rigour, he has had a huge impact on the ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IUCN are deeply saddened by the loss of one of nature conservation’s leading lights. Dr Kenton R. Miller, a former IUCN Director General and globally-recognized leader in protected area management, has passed away. Kenton Miller served as IUCN Director General from 1983 to 1988 and recently finished a third term as Chair of IUCN’s World Commission on ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre would like to express its sincere condolences on the death of Andrzej Tomaszewski, renowned professor of built heritage conservation and former Director of ICCROM. His passing comes as a great loss to the cultural heritage preservation field. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Prof Tomaszewski graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology with degrees in Art ...

Torrential rains which have occurred in Peru over the last five days have caused the death of a tourist and a tour guide, and have impacted two World Heritage properties, City of Cuzco, and The Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, both inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1983. Peruvian regional and national authorities have declared a state of emergency following massive landslides and ...

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, expressed her deep sadness at the death of Professor Ikuo Hirayama, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, on 2 December at the age of 79. "UNESCO has lost a friend," she said. "For more than 20 years, Professor Hirayama lent his tireless support to the Organization's projects, especially in the fields of education, emergency relief and reconstruction. He was ...

The World Heritage Centre wishes to pay tribute to Michel Parent, a leading personality of world cultural heritage, who passed away last week at the age of ninety-three. Born in 1916 in Neuilly sur Seine, France, Michel Parent was a highly active and creative man. During his impressive career, he successively became Inspector (1945) and Inspector General (1958) of Sites, Inspector General ...

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 ...

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre sends its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Ruzna Amli, a young Tanzanian woman from Songo Mnara, who had worked with the UNESCO restoration project of the Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara Ruins, a World Heritage Site in Tanzania. The young mother of three died of the consequences of a tragic accident during the restoration works. We deeply ...

The World Heritage Centre deeply regrets to announce the passing away, in Paris on Monday 27 September, of Michel Batisse (1923-2004), UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Science from 1972 to1984 and one of the founding fathers of the 1972 World Heritage Convention. He played a critical role in the preparation and negotiation of this Convention, by guaranteeing the rightful place of ...

Paris - UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor expressed sadness over the reported death yesterday of Raymond Lemaire, his special advisor and representative on the cultural heritage of Jerusalem. "UNESCO has lost one of its most outstanding experts. No cultural site or monument in the world was foreign to Raymond Lemaire," Mr Mayor said. "He applied his great expertise as one of the editors ...