What is this UNESCO I speak of?
Westminster Abbey – UNESCO Heritage Site
I am sure some of you are wondering what the heck this UNESCO thing is that I have all over my site? For starters, it is an acronym for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It is a part of the United Nations (UN) but with a more focused objective. Founded in 1945, UNESCO was built upon the building blocks of humanity and morals. One of those moral beliefs was recognizing the importance of protecting cultural sites that have a universal importance across the globe.
“UNESCO is known as
the ‘intellectual’ agency
of the United Nations.”
Thanks to the 1972 World Heritage Convention, sites with cultural significance are protected by a global community. The Convention also brought attention to the importance of nature conservation. These two important variables synthesized what the World Heritage Convention would focus it objective on – the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
“The Convention defines the kind of natural or cultural sites
which can be considered for inscription
on the World Heritage List.”
What is really cool is there are 190 countries that are a part of the Convention and find the importance of preserving our global world heritage equally important. It is a heck of a community! Through the years, the Convention has been able to recognize over a thousand sites across the globe that are either cultural, natural, or mixed and have had them placed on the World Heritage List!
City Center. Brugge, Belgium. UNESCO Site.
I think the World Heritage List is pretty great! The sites that are on the List are open to the public. And if you ask me that makes perfect sense. Why preserve natural and cultural sites on an international scale with intentions of not sharing with the rest of the world? That is just silly! So if you are in the area where there are known Heritage Sites at, then I strongly suggest going and seeing them! Even here in the State we have a bunch! If you want to find out if there is a site in the country you are visiting, you can click here to search.
There is a lot more to be known about UNESCO and its wonderful World Heritage List, but I figured this general overview would shed some light and get the ball rolling about this UNESCO thing I keep talking about!
If you want to learn more about UNESCO you can find information by clicking here!
