Explore initiatives & stories from UNESCO networks.

Located in the Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures in the northwestern part of Kyushu Island of the Japanese Archipelago, the ‘Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region’ is a serial property comprising 12 components, made up of ten villages, one castle remains, and one cathedral dating from between the 17th and 19th centuries. They reflect the era of prohibition of the Christian faith, as well as the revitalization of Christian communities after the official lifting of the prohibition in 1873. Hidden Christians survived as communities that formed small villages sited along the seacoast or on remote islands to which Hidden Christians migrated during the ban on Christianity. Hidden Christians gave rise to a distinctive religious tradition that was seemingly vernacular yet which maintained the essence of Christianity, and they survived continuing their faith over the ensuing two centuries.

On Sado Island, located roughly 40 km off the coast of the Japanese mainland, there are well-preserved remains of mines and villages from several eras stretching back more than 400 years. The gold mined on Sado Island long helped to support Japan's finances of the central goverments and even influenced the global economy. The Sado Gold and Silver Mine was inscribed on Japan's World Heritage Tentative List under the title "The Sado Complex of Heritage Mines, Primarily Gold Mines" in 2010, becoming an official World Heritage candidate, and it is now seeking inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The property exhibits important interchanges and exchanges amongst the different polities in East Asia between the 4th and the 9th centuries, which is evident from the abundant finds and objects with a variety of origins deposited at sites on the Island where rituals for safe navigation were performed. It is also an exceptional example of the cultural tradition of worshipping a sacred island, as it has evolved and been passed down from ancient times to the present. Please explore our site by the movie introduces each component.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial virtual tour.

This property was the first capital of the Saudi Dynasty, in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, north-west of Riyadh. Founded in the 15th century, it bears witness to the Najdi architectural style, which is specific to the centre of the Arabian peninsula. In the 18th and early 19th century, its political and religious role increased, and the citadel at at-Turaif became the centre of the temporal power of the House of Saud and the spread of the Salafiyya reform inside the Muslim religion. The property includes the remains of many palaces and an urban ensemble built on the edge of the ad-Dir’iyah oasis. As the pandemic continues to impact daily life, the team at Diriyah is working tirelessly to maintain and protect At-Turaif, our UNESCO World Heritage site. To know more, Watch the video below. Architecture Heritage Manager Dr Haifa Alhababi gives us a glimpse of what's happening on site and showcases the great work the team is doing.

Historic Jeddah is situated on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. From the 7th century AD it was established as a major port for Indian Ocean trade routes, channelling goods to Mecca. It was also the gateway for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca who arrived by sea. These twin roles saw the city develop into a thriving multicultural centre, characterized by a distinctive architectural tradition, including tower houses built in the late 19th century by the city’s mercantile elites, and combining Red Sea coastal coral building traditions with influences and crafts from along the trade routes.

The Archaeological Site of Al-Hijr (Madâin Sâlih) is the first World Heritage property to be inscribed in Saudi Arabia. It features well-preserved monumental tombs with decorated facades dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. The site also features some 50 inscriptions of the pre-Nabataean period and some cave drawings.

WHV Webinar Series, second session titled 'International Voluntary Service: engaging youth in heritage preservation', which took place on Wednesday 27 May 2020, from 13:00 to 14:30 (Paris Time, CET). This webinar provided a brief introduction of the International Voluntary Service movement, and showcased its non-formal educational approach to engage and empower youth in world heritage preservation and promotion. The guest speakers for the Webinar included the CCIVS President Ingrid Danckaerts, CCIVS Director Victoria Lovelock, CCIVS Vice President for Europe Tamás Mahner, CCIVS Programme Coordinator Zhuoling You, Non Formal Education trainer Mauro Carta, and Impact Research Expert Francesco Volpini.

Carte interactive de la ville du Havre.

360 degree video tour of Fontainebleau.

Was the decorated cave of Pont'Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, the first movie theater? Have a closer look at animated images of the Chauvet Cave from 36,000 years ago.

A 10 minutes VR experience that guides visitors through the Chauvet Cave, narrated in French and English.

Visite virtuelle du centre historique de Carcassonne (3D). 

To keep the children occupied during confinement, we have developed activities and games related to the coalmine and we have posted it on our website. Ex: video to build a skip with paper, discovery of a slag heap, ... Children have fun while learning.

Dive in the aquatic universe of Casa Batlló with a 360º video experience. Navigate with your mouse and with the arrows on the screen. You can adjust the image quality in the settings options at the bottom right of the video.

Visite virtuelle. Alhambra. Alhambra, Generalife et Albaicin, Grenade

Interactive virtual 3D tour of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on the website during coronavirus lockdown.

Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Virtual tour launched on 31 January 2020.

The Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia offers a large scale of programs of national cultural Institutions available in digital format (virtual tours, digital audio and video materials, photos, texts, 3D scanned objects, etc. in different languages).

High meets low in the web portal created for the joint World Heritage Site of the Swedish High Coast and the low-lying Kvarken Archipelago in Finland. So make a virtual visit to this transboundary natural heritage site and get to know the story behind its unique geology and nature! The story is enriched with brand new videos and animations. Photo: Liselott Nyström Forsén

High meets low in the web portal created for the joint World Heritage Site of the Swedish High Coast and the low-lying Kvarken Archipelago in Finland. So make a virtual visit to this transboundary natural heritage site and get to know the story behind its unique geology and nature! The story is enriched with brand new videos and animations. Photo: Liselott Nyström Forsén

Discover Tyre Al-Bass archaeological site. 

Discover the Phoenician city of Tyre.

Discover Byblos, one of the oldest Phoenician cities, where ruins of many successive civilizations are found.

Discover Baalbek, the Phoenician city with its colossal structures, one of the finest examples of Imperial Roman architecture at its apogee.

Key resources for libraries in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

The dense forest of the Osun Sacred Grove, on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, is one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities. The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements. The grove covers an area of 75 hectares and it is a typical example of a true primary rainforest that is fast disappearing in the West African Sub-region and one of the few vestiges of the rainforests in Nigeria.

Le Ksar de Tafilelt sis à Béni-Isguen (Ghardaïa) a obtenu fin 2016, lors de la COP22, le 1er prix de ville durable. En s'appuyant sur des techniques ancestrales, la ville algérienne est un exemple d'éco-citoyenneté.

En 2003, sur une colline rocailleuse, un projet unique en son genre a vu le jour. Ksar Tafilalt Tajdite est en vérité un nouveau ksar, surplombant Beni Izguen, qui compte plus de 800 maisons traditionnelles bâties dans le cadre d’un projet social à but non lucratif. 

Le patrimoine culturel ancestral peut, lui aussi, concourir à la résolution du problème du logement. Face à la menace de ‘’bétonisation’’ de la vallée, ce projet a été conçu pour proposer des logements à des prix modestes qui correspondent aux spécificités architecturales et culturelles de la vallée du M’zab. Il répond également à la nécessité de réagir à la disparition programmée des palmeraies. 
Les habitants de la ville entretiennent une forêt entretenue selon les règles de l'agriculture biologique, et des animaux : chèvres, moutons et singes, nourris en partie grâce aux déchets alimentaires. Chaque personne doit ainsi s'occuper d'un palmier, d'un arbre d'ornement et d'un arbre fruitier.

A virtual tour of Joya de Cerén archaeological site, that offers an interactive experience to discover this archaeological site inscribed on the World Heritage List since 1993. Joya de Cerén was a pre-Hispanic farming community that, like Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, buried under an eruption of the Laguna Caldera volcano c. AD 600. Because of the exceptional condition of the remains, they provide an insight into the daily lives of the Central American populations who worked the land at that time.

The UNESCO Culture Sector has launched the UNESCO Little Artists Exhibition in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign is aimed at schoolchildren between 6 and 12 years old and encourages them to create and share drawings and artworks of a UNESCO World Heritage site that matters to them. The initiative aims to motivate children to learn more about World Heritage sites and the stories behind them.

UNESCO is implementing a three-year-long project funded by the European Union to safeguard cultural heritage in four historic urban centers in Yemen through a Cash-for-Work modality. In the context of the emerging coronavirus outbreak in Yemen, this initiative extends social and economic protection for youth in the cultural heritage sector and incentivize employment opportunities. Indeed, the project aims to employ 4,000 youth in four historic cities (3 of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites). The urban rehabilitation works are relying on health-education sessions that are delivered to young beneficiaries.

Source : Business Insider article

Namib Sand Sea is a vast area of spectacular sand dunes.  Remarkably, the sand itself originates thousands of kilometres away in the headwaters of southern Africa’s major rivers, from where it has been transported by the forces of erosion and river flow into the ocean, then picked up and brought back onshore by strong ocean currents.  

The Saloum Delta is close to the African continent’s western extremity, about 100 km south of the Senegalese capital, Dakar.  It is an extensive area of mudflats, mangrove swamp and channels, with about 200 small islands, some of which are forested.  

Agadez is a small town on the fringes of the Sahara Desert in the Air region of northern Niger.  Its historic centre dates from the 15th and 16th centuries when the Sultanate of Air was established here, encouraging the consolidation of Tuareg tribes and the development of trans-Saharan economic and cultural exchanges.  

Volubilis was the Roman Empire’s most remote and far-flung base, and, as such, it lasted little more than two centuries, its garrison withdrawn in 285 AD to relieve pressure elsewhere.  

The Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa (dubbed the 'Cradle of Humankind') lies 45 km west of Johannesburg, one of Africa’s great cities.  

Virtual tour of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania). Besides its outstanding natural attributes, the area has made an exceptional contribution to our understanding of human evolution. 

Virtual tour.

The Villa d'Este in Tivoli, with its palace and garden, is one of the most remarkable and comprehensive illustrations of Renaissance culture at its most refined. Its innovative design along with the architectural components in the garden (fountains, ornamental basins, etc.) make this a unique example of an Italian 16th-century garden.

Discover Bagan's incredible temples in 3D and VR - Embracing the Future to Preserve the Past was created with 3D scanning, photogrammetry, and 360 video

Explore Yellowstone UNESCO World Heritage site & other visits of multiple sites in the USA. See more

Discover a New Palate at Malaysia's UNESCO World Heritage town of Melaka

Virtual tour of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1985.

Brazilian, English, French, deaf and mute version.

Pampulha Modern Ensemble, inscribed in 2016 on UNESCO World Heritage List.

Brazilian, English, French, deaf and mute version.

Virtual tour of the Historic Town of Ouro Preto, World Heritage property inscribed in 1980.

Brazilian, English, French, deaf and mute versions.

360° underwater footage, recorded by Underwater Earth, a partner of UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme.

World Heritage in Shanxi Province

Virtual and panoramic tours of World Heritage properties in China

The Great Wall, inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.

Virtual tour of the Acropolis, inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.

The World's most beautiful railway - The Bernina Express, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Learn more about stunning sites and monuments of Ancient Egypt, built between 4.6 and 2 thousand years ago, including 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: - Pyramid fields of Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur - Ancient Thebes (Luxor) with its necropolis - Nubian monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae.

Petra, inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.

Discover the site in 4K Ultra HD.

Video of young professionals in Zadar, Croatia.

The Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park was inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993. 

360° underwater footage, recorded by Underwater Earth, a partner of UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme.

360° underwater footage, recorded by Underwater Earth, a partner of UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme.

Collaboration between virtual history specialists, archaeologists and historians designed to bring Angkor to life. Angkor was inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992.