MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) this year has inscribed 19 sites on the World Heritage List, which now totals 1,092, Lyudmila Buzina, Deputy Director of the Department for World Heritage and International relations at the Russian Scientific-Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev, told TASS on Thursday.
"In accordance with the decision of the World Heritage Committee session, a total of 19 sites have been included in the World Heritage List in 2018, including 13 cultural sites, 3 natural sites, and 3 mixed sites, which combine the properties of cultural and natural sites. The Committee has also decided to extend one natural site in Russia," she stated following the 3rd plenary session of the international congress called "World Heritage in CIS countries: sustainable management and transboundary cooperation."
The 2018 additions include archeological site Thimlich Ohinga (Kenya), G·bekli Tepe (Turkey), the palace-city of Medina Azahara (Spain), the ancient city of Qalhat (Oman), the industrial town of Ivrea of the 20th century (Italy), Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles (Mumbai), and others. Also, the decision has been made to extend the Bikin River Valley natural site (Russia).
"As of the end of 2018, the World Heritage List of the United Nations’ cultural agency has 1,092 sites located in 167 countries, Buzina pointed out.
Value
The World Heritage List, first listed by UNESCO in 1978, comprises sites that have "great importance to mankind." Experts believe that the inclusion of a site in the World Heritage List usually boosts revenues from its management by 200-300% thanks to advertisement and an influx of tourists. The list currently includes 28 sites from Russia, which doesn’t exceed 3% of the total number.
The first Russian site included in the World Heritage List in 1990, was the historic center of St. Petersburg, as well as related groups of monuments of the city and its suburbs, such as the Kronstadt fortress-town, the Shlisselburg fortress, Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Tsarskoye Selo, Gatchina, etc. In the same year, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square and the architectural ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost were added to the list.
The international congress called "World Heritage in CIS countries: sustainable management and transboundary cooperation" meets in Moscow on November 22-23. It is dedicated to the problems of sustainable management of world heritage sites and development of transboundary nominations for the inclusion in the World Heritage List.