2009 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

2008 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

2007 - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec

31 March

• Evaluation of the conservation conditions of the World heritage sites in Senegal from the February 14 to 20 2009
  From February 14 to 20, 2009, a joint mission took place in Senegal composed by Mr. Francesco BANDARIN, Director of the World Heritage Center, Mr. Lazare ElOUNDOU, Chief officer of the Unit Africa Central of World heritage, Mrs Christiane SCHUMCKLE-MOLLARD, Representative of ICOMOS, Mr. Baba KEITA, Representative of the ICCROM and Mr. Alain COULON, Expert for the World Heritage Center. The objective of the mission was to evaluate the conservation conditions of the World heritage sites in Senegal (Gorée and Saint-Louis), define the problems and to search for, with the Ministry of Culture and classified historical Heritage, solutions before it is too late. Mr. Christian NDOMBI, Specialist in Culture of BREDA, accompanied the mission to Gorée as well as to Saint-Louis and Wanar (megalithic site) and participated in the different meetings and working sessions in Dakar and in Gorée, Saint-Louis and Wanar. Among the recommendations, it is possible to highlight that it is important to apply a protection plan of Gorée, define a strategic and operative framework for Saint-Louis and reinforce the association between the different participants.

• Project “Central African World Heritage Forest Initiative” - preparation meeting of the Control Committee
  CAWHFI Project - Central African World Heritage Forest Initiative - organized its Control Committee meeting in Yaounde for the last week of March, under the sponsorship of the COMIFAC. Within the framework of this planning, Mr. Guy Broucke, Specialist of the Science Program of the UNESCO Office in Yaounde, visited Douala on 24 February 2009 with the purpose of meeting with the coordinator, Mr. Jean Christophe Lefeuvre, as well as with the partners of the COMIFAC and the European Union.

• IFLA News: World Heritage Cultural Landscapes - Mechtild Rössler & Kerstin Manz UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  Since its adoption by UNESCO in November 1972, the World Heritage Convention has made an important contribution to the identification and protection of cultural and natural heritage sites considered to be of outstanding universal value to humanity. In 1992, the World Heritage Committee adopted the concept of cultural landscapes and has since then inscribed 63 cultural landscapes on the UNESCO World Heritage List (as of July 2008). With the growing diversity of living cultural places, sacred sites and cultural landscapes now included on the World Heritage List, outstanding linkages between nature and culture, people and place and between the intangible and the tangible are becoming more fully reflected on the List.

• Exhibition and Concert: 2,200th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Tashkent
  On the occasion of the 2,200th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Tashkent

  1 – 10 April 2009
  Exhibition, Hall Ségur
  Applied Decorative Arts from the Sun-blessed Country
  Arts and Crafts of Uzbekistan

  The origins of applied decorative arts go far back in time. The traditions of Uzbek master artists have been handed down from generation to generation. The exhibition will feature sculptures and paintings on wood by master artists from Tashkent, the famous blue ceramics of potters from Rishtân, copper and brass vessels with chiselled decorations, and traditional Uzbek musical instruments inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Highlights of the exhibition will include traditional woven silkware called “Khân atlas”, “Beqasams”, printed cotton cloth, and “Châpâns” magnificent robes from Bukhârâ hand-embroidered with gold. Also on exhibit will be unique lacquer and hand-made paper miniatures

  10 April 2009
  Concert, Room I, 6.00pm (by invitation limited seating capacity)
  Traditional Uzbek Music and Songs

  Organizer by the Permanent Delegation of Uzbekistan to UNESCO
  Reservations: dl.uzbekistan@unesco.org

• Candidacy of the national park of Zakouma in Chad as world heritage site
  From February 8 to 14, 2008, Dr. Gérard Collin, advisor of the Culture sector, carried out a report on the viability of the candidacy of the national park of Zakouma in Chad as world heritage site. Indeed, Chad officially accepted the World Heritage Agreement on 23 June, 1999. Its tentative list, registered in 2005, comprises 9 sites at the moment. It is very balanced since it consists of 4 cultural sites, 4 natural and 1 mixed site. The national Park of Zakouma comprises thus part of 4 natural sites, but also from both sites, with the region of Archei, for which the State party wishes to achieve as soon as possible the nomination files.

30 March

• Director-General celebrates inscription of the Madâin Sâlih site on the World Heritage List during official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (16-19 March 2009)
  From 16 to 19 March 2009, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, paid his third official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was accompanied throughout his visit by Mr Ziad Bin Abdullah Aldrees, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to UNESCO. On 17 March, the Director-General was received by HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud, Chairperson of the Museum and Heritage Foundation and Secretary-General of the Saudi Higher Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, with whom he discussed cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UNESCO in the area of culture. Mr Matsuura paid tribute to His Majesty King Abdallah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for his strong support, and congratulated HRH Prince Sultan for working successfully towards the inscription of the first Saudi site, Madâin Sâlih, on the World Heritage List.

20 March

• Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in the Philippines receives £13,540 from an auction organized by Jaeger-LeCoultre
  The World Heritage site of the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in the Philippines will benefit from the total amount of £13,540 collected through an auction organized in February by the Swiss watch company Jaeger-LeCoultre, within the framework of the partnership with UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and the International Herald Tribune. The purchase of a watch designed to celebrate this partnership, as well as the auction registration fees, enabled financing of a project which aims to fight against illegal fishing in this natural park where the only permitted activities are tourism and research.

18 March

• World Heritage Conservation and Management (WHCM) Certificate and Diploma - 2009-2010 (World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region - WHITR-AP)
  WHITRAP has developed the Advanced Course in World Heritage Conservation and Management (WHCM) as one of several systematic education and training programmes in World Heritage. The Advanced Course in WHCM will be launched in the fall of 2009 and is targeted for professionals, decision makers and practitioners working with World Heritage – a mix that will allow for important exchanges of viewpoints and experiences among students. The modules will be lectured, elaborated and piloted in WHITRAP’s two university-based centres, i.e. Beijing University and Tongji University. Further opportunities exist for practical work or joint research in other universities and World Heritage sites in China.
  • Application Form for International Students.doc
  • Application Form for Chinese Government Scholarship.pdf
  • Application Form for self-financed Study in China.pdf
  • Foreigner Physical Examination Form.pdf

17 March

• <WHTour.org>: Strasbourg (France)
  1001wonders.org (formerly world-heritage-tour.org) is listing 1001 cultural and natural sites around the world and is documenting them in panophotographies - immersive and interactive panoramic images. Today 269 sites have been visited : 243 are available on this web site, 26 are currently in post-production and will soon be uploaded. Altogether there are 2036 panophotographies. This project is building a museum atlas which is interactive, immersive, without border and for educational purposes. It is also a testimony and a documentary inventory of natural and cultural sites to future generations.

12 March

• Revival of an ancient temple in Anuradhapura
  Minister of Tourism Milinda Moragoda is scheduled to hold discussions with the Maha Sangha at The Mirisawetiya Maha Viharaya, in Anuradhapura during the Maha Sangha Council meeting on Friday13th February. Built by King Dutugemunu, ruler of Sri Lanka 101 – 77 B.C, the Mirisawetiya Viharaya has mesmerized many a viewer by its grandeur and setting. Extensive ruins found around the temple are indicative of an ancient monastery in proximity to the Viharaya. The Ministry of Tourism has joined in funding the restoration of this historical monument which is a major visitor attraction due its sheer size and magnificence.

• Tournai, Une tour de trop (Belgium)
  The proposal to build a 49m high hotel tower, 15 meters taller than the twelfth-century Romanesque nave of the WHListed (2000) Cathedral of Tournai, has caused concern and fear among citizens and action groups that the construction could cause structural instability to the fragile cathedral. It is also felt to be visually inappropriate and out of scale beside the Cathedral. Europa Nostra Belgium submitted a letter in supporting the protests to the City Council (15 Jan.’09) which arose considerable interest in the National and local press. In the letter, EN Belgium suggested as an alternative to adapt existing surrounding buildings to create a heritage hotel more appropriate for the site.

• Baku historic center (Azerbaijan)
  Europa Nostra’s Council decided to closely monitor the rapidly deteriorating condition of the historic center of Baku, and to support local heritage groups in their struggle against the willful destruction of an increasing number of heritage buildings and sites. The statement made by Dr. Irena Subotic, President of Europa Nostra Serbia, during the last Conference of Ministers responsible for Culture, entitled "Intercultural Dialogue as a basis for peace and sustainable development in Europe and its neighbouring regions" (Baku, 2-3 Dec.’08), organised by the Council of Europe and the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture, is available at the link of this news.

5 March

• Up to 530.000€ to restorate the Horta Museum in Brussels
  The sum of 529.609,66€ was released in January to restorate the backstairs, the kitchen, the stairs to the garden and window frames from the Horta Museum (25, rue Américaine) in Saint-Gilles, Brussels, on Emir Kir's initiative as the Regional State Secretary for Monuments and Sites. The Region participates up to 80% in the restoration costs. The Horta house, designed by Victor Horta for himself, was built from 1898 to 1900 and is made up of a private space, as a house for Victor Horta and his family, and a professional space, where the master had put his office and workshop in.

• New website and new premises for Riga Art Nouveau Centre
  The Riga Art Nouveau Centre in Latvia, that used to be mentioned on the website of the City of Riga, has now its own website where the centre and Art Nouveau architectural heritage of the city are presented and where all events related to Art nouveau in Riga are announced. The Riga Art Nouveau Centre also moved into new premises in the Art Nouveau building located at 12, Alberta street, the facade having being restored a few years ago and the interior still being in the restoration process.

3 March

• Our Heritage at Risk (Australia) Call for nominations - Deadline 18 April 2009
  Nominations are currently being accepted by the Australian National Trusts for their Our heritage at Risk program. Nominations close on World Heritage Day on 18 April and the process is described on the website: http://www.heritageatrisk.org.au. It is a two tiered system with State and Territories releasing Heritage at risk lists in July and the National Top Ten List being released in October or November at a state or national capital city. The Australian Council of National Trusts, a not-for profit organisation, is the peak body representing the eight State and Territory National Trusts on behalf of their 80,000 members on national and international heritage matters. Their vision is for Australia to be a nation that celebrates and conserves its cultural, Indigenous and natural heritage for present and future generations, and their purpose to achieve this vision is through advocacy, research and promotion. Our Heritage at Risk is the major advocacy program of the Australian National Trusts. It includes moveable and intangible heritage, natural and built, industrial, archaeological, indigenous and other cultural heritage at risk through a number of threatening processes.

2 March

• <WHTour.org>: Zanzibar in Tanzania
• <WHTour.org>: Also Lamu and Mombasa in Kenya
  1001wonders.org (formerly world-heritage-tour.org) is listing 1001 cultural and natural sites around the world and is documenting them in panophotographies - immersive and interactive panoramic images. Today 269 sites have been visited : 239 are available on this web site, 30 are currently in post-production and will soon be uploaded. Altogether there are 2036 panophotographies. This project is building a museum atlas which is interactive, immersive, without border and for educational purposes. It is also a testimony and a documentary inventory of natural and cultural sites to future generations.