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Olafur Eliasson has shared photos of the new Breathing earth sphere immersive installation project in Shinan County, South Korea. The installation is the first to be created for the larger Shinan Art Island Project on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site listed archipelago that will bring... View full entry
The cross-border Israeli military confrontation with Hezbollah has induced UNESCO to take drastic action by declaring 34 cultural properties in Lebanon to be under provisional enhanced protection, according to a new announcement from the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural... View full entry
A new performing arts complex designed by Perkins&Will, in partnership with Schmidt Hammer Lassen, has opened in Beijing. Located in the city’s southeast district, Tongzhou, the Beijing Performing Arts Center sits along the banks of the Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, anchoring a... View full entry
The Tower of London’s status as a world heritage site may be at risk due to the influx of new skyscrapers in central London. UNESCO has requested that the UK government submit a State of Conservation Report that addresses the historic site’s preservation and the threat of increased high-rise... View full entry
The British government’s plans to construct a new two-mile underground tunnel near the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage site have been called off in what’s being framed as a major victory for preservationists. The BBC has more on the late budgetary decision, which ends a yearslong legal... View full entry
UNESCO has verified nearly 30 dozen damaged cultural sites across Ukraine in a new survey meant to shed light on the extent to which the cost of war has left an impact on the nation’s spiritual landscape and intellectual heritage over the past two full years. Kharkiv and Donetsk led the... View full entry
Stefano Boeri Architetti has unveiled a master plan to enhance the Ramagrama Stupa, one of the most significant places in the Buddhist world. The site is located in Ramagrama, a municipality within the Parasi district in western Nepal. The archaeological destination dates back to the earliest... View full entry
Work to prevent the collapse of a leaning medieval tower in the heart of the northern Italian city of Bologna will cost €20m ($21.5m) and take 10 years at least, its mayor has said. Last weekend, the city unveiled a €4.3m (£3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower – one of the city’s two towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts. — The Guardian
The Garisenda Tower, like the Tower of Pisa, has leaned for centuries as the ground on which it was built gave way soon after its construction. It slants at four degrees compared to 3.9 degrees the Tower of Pisa leans at. Last month, the area around the Garisenda Tower was cordoned off due to... View full entry
Francis Kéré has been announced as the architect of a new virtual museum of stolen cultural artifacts for UNESCO. The project will exhibit 3D versions of the objects while at the same time elevating the voices and narratives of the global communities from which they were taken. Renderings... View full entry
The A303 redevelopment proposal had originally garnered the attention of preservation advocates beginning in 2017 and eventually yielded a favorable ruling from the UK High Court in 2021, the same year UNESCO first threatened to add the site to its list of World Heritage in Danger. ... View full entry
The outcome of the 45th session of the committee has also been notable, however, for the places not approved for protection. On Friday, members voted against the notion that Venice be added to the heritage list. This was despite the recommendation of the World Heritage Centre (WHC), the convention’s permanent secretariat, which argued the city was at risk due to factors including mass tourism and climate change. — The Art Newspaper
A total of 42 new sites were added at the ongoing special session held in Riyadh this month. Three Ukrainian sites, including the 11th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, were also added last week at the start of the 15-day meeting. The body’s recommendations to add Venice to the list... View full entry
Several Unesco World Heritage sites have been severely damaged by the recent earthquake in Morocco. [...]
As the death toll climbs, so too will revelations of damaged heritage sites, as Morocco’s fragile patrimony—especially in less accessible rural areas—bears the brunt of the earthquake alongside the nation.
— The Art Newspaper
Following the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Morocco's Marrakesh–Safi region on September 8, the assessment of devastation — both human and cultural — continues. As The Art Newspaper reports, several significant heritage sites have been severely damaged or almost entirely... View full entry
The ability for Venice to charge a nominal €5 ($5.35 USD) daily entrance fee to tourists has been granted to the city, giving officials the final go-ahead for a response they say is ultimately necessary to preserve its architectural heritage from the threats of climate change and... View full entry
[Update, September 14th, 2023: Despite this recommendation, UNESCO ultimately voted not to place Venice on its World Heritage in Danger list]Experts from UNESCO, the cultural agency of the United Nations, have recommended adding Venice to its World Heritage in Danger list. As reported by... View full entry
Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled design details for its latest hospitality sector collaboration with Italo Rota located at the Monferrato UNESCO World Heritage site in Italy. The studio’s new Roccia project reimagines a hilltop former monastery site in Piedmont into a new residential complex... View full entry
