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VIKING

Norway wants Viking sites on UN list

Norway's government is lobbying to get three Viking ship burial grounds and a viking quarry classified as Unesco World Heritage sites, hoping that this will help draw more tourists the country.

Published: 18 December 2013 08:55 CET
Norway wants Viking sites on UN list
A recreation of viking life at the Hyllestad Quernstone quarries on Norway's west coast - Kvernsteinsparken
"These nominations will not be rejected by Unesco if we carry out a ​​solid preparation, and Norway is being thorough," Tine Sundtoft, the country's minister for climate and environment, told Aftenposten newspaper. 
 
The nominations include the Borre cemetery in Horten municipality, Oseberg ship burial in Tønsberg and Gokstad ship burial in Sandefjord municipality, and also the Hyllestad millstone quarries on the west coast. 
 
First submitted by the environment ministry in 2011, they form part of Unesco's Viking Monuments and Sites series, which groups together notable viking heritage in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Latvia, and Sweden. 
 
Norway is also pushing for Rjukan and Notodden, two picturesque 19th century industrial towns, to win world heritage status. 
 
Norway already boasts seven entries on the list: Bryggen, the old wharf in Bergen; a stave church in Urnes; the mining town of Røros; stone age paintings in Alta; the villages of the Vega Archipelago; the chain of triangulation points set up by the Norwegian astronomer Friedrich Struve; and the fjords of west Norway. 
 

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UNESCO

Venice may be put on Unesco endangered list if cruise ships not banned

The UN art heritage agency has said it may put Venice on its ‘endangered’ list if the lagoon city does not permanently ban cruise ships from docking there.

Published: 22 June 2021 12:53 CEST
Updated: 22 June 2021 17:27 CEST
Venice may be put on Unesco endangered list if cruise ships not banned
Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The Italian lagoon city, along with Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the city of Budapest, and Liverpool’s waterfront may be put on the list of “World Heritage in Danger,” meaning they risk being removed from Unesco’s prestigious list of world heritage sites completely.

Unesco said on Monday the issue will be discussed at a meeting of its World Heritage Committee, which oversees the coveted accolade, in Fuzhou, China, on July 16-31.

It “would be a very serious thing for our country” if Venice was removed, said Italy’s Culture Minister Dario Franceschini on Monday.

READ ALSO: ‘More local, more authentic’: How can Italy move toward responsible tourism in future?

The MSC Orchestra cruise ship arrives in Venice on June 3rd, 2021. Photo: ANDREA PATTARO/AFP

Participants at the China meeting will make the final decision on the deletion and warning proposals, and the agency could demand urgent action on cruise ships from the Italian government by next February.

There has long been concern about the impact of cruise ships on the city’s delicate structures and on the lagoon’s fragile ecosystem.

READ ALSO: Hundreds demonstrate against cruise ships’ return to Venice

The Italian government appeared to have passed a ban on cruise ships docking in Venice earlier this year – but the giant vessels continue to arrive in the city.

The government’s decree in fact did not constitute an immediate ban.

Instead, it said a plan for docking cruise ships outside Venice’s lagoon must be drawn up and implemented.

In the meantime, the ships will continue sailing through the lagoon and docking at the city’s industrial port, which has been the landing site for them since last December.

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