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Hagia Sophia: UNESCO deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, made without prior discussion, and calls for the universal value of World Heritage to be preserved The Director-General of UNESCO deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, made without prior discussion, to change the status of Hagia Sophia. This evening, she shared her serious ...

A Memorandum of Understanding is to be signed today, 30 October 2008, between UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The IAU will be integrally involved in the process of developing UNESCO's Astronomy and World Heritage Initiative, helping to promote astronomical sites of "Outstanding Universal Value".

As part of the ‘Initiative for World Heritage Forests in Central Africa' , UNESCO's World Heritage Centre organized an expert workshop on March 13-14 in Brazzaville (Congo) to identify the most outstanding protected areas in the Congo Basin and to study their complementarity with sites in the region already inscribed on the World Heritage List. The workshop was ...

Environmental factors, lack of maintenance and uncontrollable urban developments have been cited as reasons to inscribe the Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. The site, comprising a group of fortifications, is a magnificent example of 17th- and 18th-century military architecture built on ...

Funded by the Flanders-UNESCO Trustfund (FUT), UNESCO starts the development of an online geographic information system for World Heritage Over a thousand properties are currently inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, almost half of which are located in Europe and North America. To preserve the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of World Heritage sites, potential ...

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre welcomes the U.K. government's decision to reject the planning permission for the Navitus Bay Wind Park proposal offshore from the World Heritage property Dorset and East Devon Coast, often referred to as Jurassic Coast. This decision followed a detailed application review process which took into consideration the importance of the World ...

UNESCO has confirmed the World Heritage Committee's decision of July 2007 to request the authorities of the Russian Federation to halt the planned construction of a tower in the Historic Centre of St. Petersburg as the project threatens the outstanding universal value of this property.During an official visit to Moscow from 6 to 10 December 2007, Francesco Bandarin, ...

On 27-30 September 2017, UNESCO, together with the Government of Afghanistan and Tokyo University of the Arts, convened a three-day closed technical meeting followed by a public Symposium in Tokyo, Japan, entitled “The Future of the Bamiyan Buddha Statues: Technical Considerations and Potential Effects on Authenticity and Outstanding Universal Value”. Funded by the ...

The World Heritage Centre launched today the Arabic translation of the publication “Managing effectively the world’s most iconic Marine Protected Areas. A Best Practice Guide”. There are currently three World Heritage marine sites in the Arab region, in Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen. Download Now The publication lays the groundwork for a common approach to a more pro-active, ...

The international mission of experts sent to review plans to build a bridge in the cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany) in early February is recommending that the plan be abandoned in the interest of preserving the outstanding universal value that warranted the inscription of the site on UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2004.For more information ...

From 7 to 9 November 2011, experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) undertook an advisory mission to examine development projects affecting the World Heritage site "Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias in Sevilla", inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1987. At its three last sessions, the World Heritage Committee discussed ...

A technical workshop was organized to strengthen capacities of stakeholders in identifying and evaluating the impact that new projects may pose on the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage sites, in addition to the elaboration of the necessary mitigation measures. The online workshop was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, ...

The Philippines’ Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a spectacular reef system in the famed Coral Triangle. The park encompasses 970 km² of coral atolls and deep seas 92 nautical miles from the nearest inhabited island. Managing this vast and remote area requires a focused management plan, and the Marine World Heritage Programme recently connected Site Manager Angelique Songco ...

On 27-29 September 2017, UNESCO will convene a three-day technical symposium in Tokyo, Japan, entitled “The Future of the Bamiyan Buddha Statues: Technical Considerations and Potential Effects on Authentic and Outstanding Universal Value”. This meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the potential reconstruction of the Buddha statues in the Bamiyan Valley ...

An Expert Meeting on ‘Outstanding Universal Value of Auschwitz – Historical Identity of Europe and Pars Pro Toto Borders’ was held at the House of the Wannsee Conference (Berlin) on 7 April 2017. Organized by the Polish National Commission, the National Heritage Board of Poland and the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum, the meeting brought together some 30 experts from ...

Thanks to a contribution of 4,992 USD from the International Assistance World Heritage Fund, the State Party of Albania organized a training workshop for the development of monitoring indicators for the World Heritage property "Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra”. The workshop took place in Berat, Gjirokastra and Tirana between 27 and 29 April 2016. In 2009, the ...

The UNESCO Kathmandu Office has recently created a website on Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha, World Heritage property in Nepal: ‘Lumbini: Past, Present & Future’. Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1997 because of its Outstanding Universal Value. The values described are that it is ...

On 31 October 2016, the Government of Timor-Leste officially deposited its instrument of ratification of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage with the Director-General of UNESCO. Timor-Leste has become the 193rd State Party to the World Heritage Convention on 31 January 2017, when the Convention entered into force for this ...

With almost 1.2 billion people travelling abroad each year, tourism has become a powerful economic sector, a passport to prosperity, dialogue and peace, and a transformative force improving millions of lives. Tourism and World Heritage are natural partners. Almost all World Heritage sites are or become tourist destinations-some are among the most iconic places on Earth. ...

UNESCO is closely following plans for a 75-hectare amusement park under discussion near the World Heritage site of Angkor in Cambodia. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has also received numerous appeals from third parties expressing their concern. The plenary session of the International Coordinating Committee for Angkor (ICC), held virtually on 26 and 27 January, ...