News

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today opened the first meeting of a Committee of Experts on the Cultural Heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem, a site inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1981 by virtue of its outstanding cultural value. The opening session was held in the presence of the Permanent Delegates of UNESCO’s Member States and Norway’s Minister of Culture and ...

The decisions taken by the World Heritage Committee during its 7th Extraordinary Session, held in Paris from 6 to 11 December 2004, can now be consulted online ( whc04-7extcom-17e.pdf). During this important meeting, the Committee examined, among other things, the relations between the World Heritage Convention and other UNESCO conventions relating to heritage and considered proposals for the ...

The conservation community mourns the loss of several staff members of the Gunung Leuser National Park, one of the three national parks within the Tropical Rainforest of Sumatra World Heritage site. According to most recent information, the Tropical Rainforest of Sumatra and the Ujung Kulon National Park have not sustained important damage during the recent tsunami disaster. The ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has offered UNESCO’s support to the countries devastated by the earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the ensuing tsunami. Mr Matsuura said that "UNESCO stands ready" to assist the national authorities within its fields of competence and "give whatever support it can to the United Nations Emergency Relief ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, will name the internationally renowned painter, Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, UNESCO Artist for Peace, in a ceremony at Organization Headquarters on January 7 (12.30 p.m.). Countess Klossowska de Rola is being named Artist for Peace for her role in promoting the World Heritage Education Project", which was launched by UNESCO in ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has offered UNESCO’s support to the countries devastated by the earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the ensuing tsunami, and expressed his sorrow at the tragic loss of life in the region. Writing to the King of Thailand, and to the presidents of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka, the Director-General voiced his ...

Six case studies, looking at manager experience of how World Heritage may help to build support for protected areas are now available here

The inscription of Bam and its Cultural Landscape, the ancient Silk Road landmark, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and on the World Heritage List in Danger will be celebrated in a ceremony on December 27, marking the first anniversary of the earthquake that destroyed much of the site and killed more than 26,000 people. The Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hossein Marashi, ...

The 2005 UNESCO World Heritage Desk Diary is now available. Discover 54 natural and cultural sites with beautiful colour photographs and informative descriptions in English, Spanish and French. Order it at https://en.dl-servi.com/ or at UNESCO Publishing - 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France.

On Friday, 27 August 2004, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) President Katsuji Ebisawa held a public signing ceremony at NHK Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan to seal their new partnership agreement. Through the Heritage Images Archives Initiative, NHK is offering to contribute to the documenting and safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, ...

The opening and closure speeches as well as the PowerPoint presentations are now available on: https://whc.unesco.org/en/events/95

The 7th Extraordinary Session of the World Heritage Committee opened on 6 December 2004 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, under the chairmanship of Mr Themba P. Wakashe from South Africa. The session will last until 11 December 2004. This important meeting will examine, among other items, the relations between the Convention for the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage ...

You can now access a film featuring Professor Chamaeleo, Ambassador at Large for Diversity, in which he urges everyone to unite and act for the conservation of biodiversity. The film was used to open the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC). Prof. Chamaeleo’s compelling appeal to humanity is at http://www.diversity.info. The production of the film was made possible with support from: ...

Within the framework of the World Heritage Central Pacific Project, a workshop was held over the previous seven days on Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, Republic of Kiribati to plan for the nomination of reef islands and atolls of Kiribati to the World Heritage List. The World Heritage List was established by the World Heritage Convention, adopted by UNESCO in 1972 to profile and protect the ...

There are three new publications in the World Heritage Papers Series: No.9: Partnerships for World Heritage Cities - Culture as a Vector for Sustainable Urban Development (in English and French) provides a summary of the papers presented and the debates held at the Urbino workshop to mark the 30th anniversary of the WH Convention. No.10: Monitoring World Heritage (in English) contains ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, participated today in Nara (Japan) at the opening ceremony of the international symposium “ Safeguarding of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Toward an Integrated Approach” organised by Bunkacho (the Japanese Cultural Agency) and UNESCO, in the presence of Mr Toshio Kojima, Senior Vice-Minister of Ministry of Education, Culture, ...

A new partnership between UNESCO and the Japanese Television channel NHK will see the co-production and broadcast of some 200 short television programmes that will form of the core of a new Heritages Image Archives Initiative. The Initiative aims to produce quality threedimensional moving images and reconstruction images, using state-of-the-art digital visual and sound processing ...

A new book Les 200 plus beaux sites du monde (The 200 most beautiful sites in the World), published by Hachette-Tourism to commemorate 10 years of the Voir collection, was launched in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters on 11 October 2004. Among the 200 sites selected by the editors, 125 are inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Published in large format, two full pages of the book ...

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 ...

Every Sunday, listeners of the French radio station France Info can learn more about UNESCO's World Heritage sites, by listening to a new chronicle entitled “Treasures of Humanity” . Olivier Emond, a 31 years old journalist and History graduate, explains in short chronicles the history of World Heritage sites selected among the 788 that are inscribed on the World Heritage List today. The ...