World War I cemeteries, Rwanda genocide sites, Argentine torture centre declared UNESCO World Heritage
Paris, France Reuters World War I cemeteries in Belgium and France, the hills of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and a former torture centre in Argentina have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites as the UN agency ends a moratorium on memorial sites for human suffering. So far, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland and the Hiroshima […]
Venice avoids being added to UNESCO list of endangered sites
Rome, ItalyReuters A UNESCO committee has decided not to add Venice to the organisation’s World Heritage List in Danger, disregarding a recommendation from experts and sparing the Italian government from an embarrassing verdict on the city’s condition. “The World Heritage Committee…has made the decision not to inscribe Venice and its Lagoon on the World Heritage […]
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef off UNESCO danger list, still under “serious threat”
Sydney, AustraliaReuters A UNESCO heritage committee on Tuesday stopped short of listing Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as a site that is “in danger” but warned the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem remained under “serious threat” from pollution and the warming of oceans. A colony of mushroom leather coral grows on the Great Barrier Reef off […]
Heritage “disaster”: Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites
ABBY SEWELL and ALBERT AJI, of Associated Press, report on the issues facing the preservation and restoration of Syria’s ancient heritage sites…
Lebanon hopes UNESCO danger listing could save crumbling modernist fairground
Tripoli, Lebanon Reuters Its arch is cracking and its vast pavilions lie empty, but the crumbling Rachid Karami International Fair in Lebanon’s port city Tripoli now has hope of revival, having been added to the United Nations’ list of world heritage sites in danger. Designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in 1962, the collection of […]
UNESCO supports Ukraine bid to put Odesa on World Heritage list
Paris, FranceReuters United Nations cultural agency UNESCO said on Tuesday it supported a bid by Ukraine to put its port city of Odesa on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Following a meeting of Ukraine Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay at the agency’s Paris headquarters, UNESCO said it had mobilised experts to […]
Witnesses say Tigrayan forces in Ethiopia retook Lalibela, UN Heritage site
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaReuters Rebellious Tigrayan forces have recaptured the Ethiopian town of Lalibela, witnesses told Reuters on Sunday, less than two weeks after the military and its allies took control of it as part of a broader offensive that pushed back Tigrayan forces on multiple fronts. Lalibela is a town in the Amhara region bordering […]
Great Works: The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela
In the headlines recently over fears for their future, DAVID ADAMS takes a look at Ethiopia’s famous rock-hewn churches…
North Wales’ slate landscapes named UNESCO World Heritage site
London, UKReuters The slate landscapes of north-west Wales have been added to the list of World Heritage Sites, UNESCO said on Wednesday, a boost for Britain after the city of Liverpool was stripped of its status. The government nominated the area to the UN cultural organisation in 2020 to recognise its role as a leader […]
Explainer: Are World Heritage Site listings a blessing or a curse?
Thomson Reuters Foundation A beloved British city stripped of its hard-won World Heritage listing, an Australian treasure spared the blushes after it was left off an “in danger” list, and a Thai national park hoping to be third-time lucky despite its spotty human rights record. Why are World Heritage Site listings so sought after, and […]