All news

Yakutian national park included in UNESCO World Heritage List

The park has numerous examples of solid rock which forms colonnades, towers, arches and churches
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

ST.PETERSBURG, July 2 (Itar-Tass) — The 36th session of the UNESCO Committee of World Heritage, which is currently under way in St. Petersburg, on Monday included the Lenskiye Stolby (the Pillars of the Lena River) National Park located in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in the UNSECO World Heritage List.

The park’s protected territory is located in the middle reaches of the Lena River. The remains of mammoths, buffalos and other animals have been discovered in its territory in various years. A unique Old Stone Age camping ground and primitive instruments of labor have also been found.

The park has numerous examples of solid rock which forms colonnades, towers, arches and churches. Small sand dunes almost deprived of vegetation known as ‘tukkulany’ are another natural landmark in the park.

The UNESCO Committee of World Heritage didn’t include the Kremlins of Russia nomination, comprising architectural monuments of Pskov, Astrakhan and Uglich, in its world heritage list. The organization didn’t include ‘Western Caucasus’ in the World Heritage Sites under Threat list but thinks that the construction of the Lagonaki resort will increase the object’s universal value and create conditions for including it in the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in future.

The 36th session of the UNESCO Committee of World Heritage opened in St. Petersburg on June 24 under Russia’s chairmanship and will last until July 6. It is being attended by delegates from 21 countries. Some of them will travel to Kazan on July 7 to meet the participants in another UNESCO event - a youth plenary session which is taking place in the capital of Tatarstan under the auspices of the UNESCO Committee of World Heritage.

Delegations from 21 countries members of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee are attending the plenary session. It is timed to coincide with the 36th UNESCO session which is currently under way in St. Petersburg.

“Each country has sent two young representatives – a young man and a young girl aged 20-25 who specialize in preservation of world heritage. They are students and post-graduate students of specialized institutions of high learning and young scholars.

Young researches will present reports on outstanding cultural and natural landmarks in their native countries. They will try to model the main aspects of the work of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Experts invited to the session will help the young delegates to test the methods and procedures adopted by the World Heritage Committee.

“Tatarstan has unique cultural landmarks in its territory,” Mintimer Shaimiyev, the ex-president of Tatarstan and the head of the Rebirth foundation, said in his greeting.

They include the Kazan Kremlin included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000; the Bolghar settlement, the ancient capital of the Volga Bulgaria, with 13th-16th century monuments and island town of Sviyazhsk with 16th-19th century landmarks.

Shaimiyev said that Bolghar and Sviyazhsk, both of which are currently being re-edified, are expected to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in future.

UNESCO’s youth session will work until July 9.