Unesco

What happens when Unesco becomes the enemy?

Plus, remembering Fernando Botero and a pioneering Barkley L. Hendricks portrait

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Unesconews

Unesco reiterates plea for UK government ‘not to proceed’ with Stonehenge redevelopment

The UN cultural body is requesting modifications to the controversial scheme, which will see a dual-carriageway tunnel running close to the ancient heritage site by next year

Unesco’s addition of West Bank archaeological site to World Heritage list fans Israel-Palestine tensions

The ancient site of Tell es-Sultan in Jericho is one of many archaeological sites in the region whose status has been mired in political and territorial disputes

Unesco adds 13 new sites to World Heritage List as Riyadh committee session enters second week

The committee voted to protect ancient sites in China, Iran, the West Bank and along the historic Silk Road, but Venice was not included

Unesco adds sites in Kyiv and Lviv to list of world heritage in danger

Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the historic centre of Lviv join Odesa on Unesco’s endangered list

Venice analysis

For the second time, Venice escapes listing as at risk, but now Unesco is the enemy

Italy’s politicians attack the cultural body as “arrogant”, “politicised” and lacking in common sense

Unesco beefs up protection for 20 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine

Damaging any of the sites inscribed in the agency's new list qualifies as a ‘serious violation’ to the 1954 Hague Convention

Day-trippers to Venice to be charged €5 admission fee in bid to save lagoon city

Residents, students and visitors in Airbnb properties will be exempt from the scheme, which will be implemented next spring

What took you so long? Unesco will ask for Venice to be added to the Endangered Heritage Sites list

The organisation has repeatedly bowed to pressure from the Italian government not to do so

Russian attacks on Odesa damage Orthodox cathedral

The bombing of several buildings including in the historic city centre—a World Heritage Site—has been strongly condemned by Unesco

Unesconews

The United States officially rejoins Unesco

Following a five-year absence, one of the founding members of the UN's cultural agency is readmitted as the organisation's 194th member state

Unesco members vote overwhelmingly—but not unanimously—to readmit the United States

The US will have to repay $619m in dues that accrued after it ceased paying in 2011 but before its formal departure in 2019

Unesconews

Worried about Chinese influence, the US agrees to rejoin Unesco

The Biden administration has agreed to pay more than $600m in arrears to the United Nation cultural agency responsible for protecting the world's most significant heritage sites

After Isis, Mosul Museum is rebuilt from the rubble

The terrorist group almost destroyed the museum in 2014. Less than a decade later, it is beginning to exhibit once again

Unesco seeks to improve artists’ protection from censorship and violence

New report finds that, unlike journalists, artists are often "in the dark" about the organisations they can turn to when their rights are threatened

Unesco chief vows to help rebuild Ukraine’s heritage and culture—but $6.9bn investment is needed

Audrey Azoulay met President Zelensky and toured sites in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Odesa during an official visit to the country this week

Booksreview

A globe-trotting guide to contested sites, dubious historical restorations and harrowing heritage destruction

Book "Monumental Lies" is a searching exploration of the truths and untruths embodied in contested heritage

Unesco adds Ukrainian city of Odesa to World Heritage List of endangered sites

The decision "recognises the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to protect it", the UN cultural organisation states

US considers rejoining Unesco despite more than $616m membership debt and Israel-Palestine controversies

America left the United Nations heritage organisation in 2019 after its members voted to accept Palestine as a member state

'Lost in limbo': Taliban’s application for Unesco protection of historic Kabul garden still unanswered after a year

United Nations culture organisation has not acknowledged the January 2022 request to add Afghanistan's Bagh-e Babur to the World Heritage List

How the war in Ukraine reveals the heightened politics of Unesco

Boycotted Russia resigned as chair of the World Heritage Committee last month

Should the world resume co-operating with the Taliban on protecting Afghanistan's heritage?

Conservation projects that have been paused due to sanctions on the new government may restart after Unesco intervention

Getty Trust pledges $1m to help protect Ukrainian cultural heritage

The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas is partnering with the Getty to save Ukraine’s museums and monuments

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky applies for Unesco World Heritage status for Odesa

The strategic Black Sea port city, home to a famous opera house and controversial Catherine the Great statue, has been the target of Russian bombing

Wildfire on Easter Island causes 'irreparable' damage to ancient moai head statues

The Unesco World Heritage Site is closed while conservators assess the damage to the almost 1,000 ancient statues, while the island's mayor claims the fire was started deliberately

First the Taliban, now local planners—Afghanistan's World Heritage site Bamiyan Valley endangered further

Unesco warns of risks of construction works in the archaeological zone where the Bamiyan Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001

Is Ukraine's cultural heritage under coordinated attack?

Sites are suffering widespread destruction, but a coalition of organisations is working to provide evidence of deliberate targeting by Russian forces

Tom Seymour. with additional reporting by Sophia Kishkovsky

Italy’s 'monuments men' sign deal with Unesco to help protect world's heritage

World-leading heritage protection taskforce known as the 'Blue Helmets' will have close ties with UN agency to operate abroad

Unesco indefinitely postpones planned world heritage meeting in Russia

The 45th annual meeting of the organisation’s World Heritage Committee was due to take place in June in the Russian city of Kazan

Mosulnews

‘Living history’: meet the Mosul residents rebuilding their city

Local trainees are taking up traditional stone masonry techniques as part of a major Unesco initiative to restore heritage houses damaged in the battle to liberate the Iraqi city from Isis