This is heartbreaking
UNESCO
Blasts at India Temple Underscore Regional Tensions, Local Vulnerability
The Bodh Gaya temple complex, a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the northern Indian state of Bihar, was hit by nine explosions on Sunday
In Latin America’s Second Largest Rainforest, an Indigenous Tribe Fights for Its Land
Deep inside the verdant expanse of Nicaragua’s Bosawás Biosphere Reserve—the western hemisphere’s second largest rainforest—a group of Mayangna indigenous warriors wielding spears, bows, snakes and reputed magical powers …
The Ancient Burmese City of Bagan Struggles for International Recognition
Propped up on bamboo scaffolding, two artisans are gently applying a dissolving solution to an arched ceiling inside Ananda, a signature temple of the ancient Burmese city of Bagan. They are removing layers of a white coating …
Must-Reads from Around the World
Burma’s opposition leader is willing to mediate peace talks between the government and ethnic minority groups, an energy company is looking at gas reserves at a World Heritage Site in Peru and Iranian president Mahmoud …
Timbuktu’s Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali’s Cultural Heritage
Ansar Dine, a radical Islamist militia, has set about destroying mausoleums and shrines in the historic Malian city of Timbuktu, which was once a great center of Islamic learning in the 15th and 16th centuries
Palestinians Champion Jesus’ Birthplace to Boost Statehood Bid
A bid to have Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity declared a World Heritage site by Unesco may not be driven simply by cultural concerns
Mali’s Crisis: Terror Stalks the Historic Treasures of Timbuktu
The historic city of Timbuktu, once a byword for a place lost to obscurity and myth, is now in the grip of very real political events. As a military coup unseated Mali’s democratically-elected government in late March, a …
Dispatch from Hebron: At Holy Site, an Unholy Clash of Politics
Now that Palestine has been voted into UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, officials are preparing applications for the organization’s marquee designation: a World Heritage Site. …
Palestinian Statehood Gets Recognized by UNESCO: What’s Next?
Unesco’s approval of full membership for Palestine is not without practical significance: The U.N. organization bestows and enforces the status of World Heritage Site, and with portions of the Heritage-aspirant Dead Sea located in Palestinian territory, as well as Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and the Hebron tomb of Abraham and …