UNESCO has added 25 new sites to its World Heritage List, from the Normandy beaches where the D-Day landings took place to Greece’s Mount Olympus, at the 48th session of its World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, taking the global total to 1,273 sites across 173 countries.

The new European entries also included France’s Capetian royal fortresses of the Languedoc and a group of 18th- and 19th-century Italian ‘condominium’ theatres. The session, which ran to 29th July, marked the first-ever inscriptions for three countries — Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Sudan — a step towards a more balanced list, while six sites were added to the List of World Heritage in Danger, underlining the need to strengthen their protection.

The session in Busan

It was the first time South Korea had hosted the committee. The session opened on 19th July with a ceremony attended by the South Korean president, Lee Jae-myung, and UNESCO’s director-general, Khaled El-Enany, with all 25 inscriptions adopted by consensus. The committee’s next session will be held in Istanbul in 2027.

Monaco’s part

Monaco was among the states taking part, represented by Séverine Dusaintpère, its Deputy Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. During the proceedings she welcomed the World Heritage Centre’s work to support countries that are absent or under-represented on the list, and voiced the Principality’s backing for a reform plan intended to strengthen the strategic role, expertise, efficiency and digital capabilities of the centre’s secretariat.

A party to the 1972 World Heritage Convention since 1978, Monaco supports the World Heritage Marine Programme and the Heritage Emergency Fund, and maintains long-standing partnerships with ICCROM and the ALIPH Foundation.

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Photo: Normandy beach landing, source: UNESCO