Event
50 years of UNESCO World Heritage
A Source of resilience, humanity, and innovation
In 2022, the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage celebrates its 50th anniversary. Over the past five decades, the Convention has protected and promoted humanity鈥檚 treasures and transformed the way we value heritage.
As the world assesses the extent of the damage caused by COVID-19, combined with accelerating environmental degradation, social divisions, and conflicts, we find ourselves questioning our fundamental values: What should we change for the better? What should be passed down to future generations? What unites us as a single human family?
As a knowledge-based and intellectual agency, UNESCO is uniquely placed to lead these discussions, harnessing the power of education, the sciences, information sharing, and culture. The world鈥檚 heritage truly encapsulates the best in our shared humanity, with iconic sites of outstanding universal values, sharing our planet鈥檚 beauty and the wealth of our human history. We hope all visitors can be inspired by this short selection and commit to sharing the wealth of cultures that make us who we are, take pride in it, and find the courage to continue this adventure.
UNESCO wishes to thank all partners and the Member States for their contribution to this exhibition. National Geographic celebrates World Heritage鈥檚 50th anniversary through an exhibit by photographer and artistic director Yan Biguetty de Flogny. His pictures were taken on UNESCO鈥檚 designated sites during his artistic exploration project 鈥淚n the footsteps of Ibn Battuta鈥. We thank our longstanding partner as well as and Alexis Rosenfeld for supporting UNESCO鈥檚 efforts to document, inspire and share footage of World Heritage Sites across the globe.
We invite you all to join the celebration, explore the full list of on unesco.org and post your favorite on social media, using #WorldHeritage hashtag and tagging @unesco.
