Wed, January 25, 2023
PARIS (Reuters) -The United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO, said on Wednesday that it had designated the historic centre of Odesa, a strategic port city on Ukraine's Black Sea coast, a World Heritage in Danger site.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine 11 months ago, denounced the designation, saying the only threat to Odesa came from the "nationalist regime in Ukraine".
The status, awarded by a UNESCO panel meeting in Paris, is designed to help protect Odesa's cultural heritage, which has been under threat since Russia's invasion, and enable access to financial and technical international aid.
Odesa has been bombed several times by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
In July 2022, part of the large glass roof and windows of Odesa's Museum of Fine Arts, inaugurated in 1899, were destroyed.
In a statement, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said that Odesa, "free city, world city, legendary port" had made its mark on cinema, literature and the arts.
"As the war continues, this inscription reflects our collective determination to protect this city from greater destruction," Azoulay said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the decision "will help us protect our Odesa ... Russia is incapable of defending anything other than terror and strikes."
Earlier on Wednesday, UNESCO inscribed the Landmarks of the Ancient Kingdom of Saba, Marib in Yemen and Rachid Karami International Fair-Tripoli in Lebanon to its list of World Heritage in Danger sites.
RUSSIA: UKRAINE THE SOLE THREAT TO ODESA
Russia's Foreign Ministry said it had no quarrel with the decision to celebrate and protect Odesa's legacy.
"But this requires a clarification that the sole threat to the city's rich history stems from Ukraine's nationalist regime which systematically destroys monuments to the founders and defenders of Odesa," it said in a statement.
It cited in particular a monument to Russian Empress Catherine the Great - widely reputed to be the city's founder - that was dismantled by an order of city authorities last year.
The UNESCO debate over Odesa took hours as Russia unsuccessfully tried to have the vote postponed.
Founded in the final years of the 18th century, near the site of a captured Ottoman fortress, Odesa's location on the shores of the Black Sea allowed it to become one of the most important ports in the Russian empire.
Its status as a trading hub brought significant wealth and made it one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Eastern Europe.
The city's most famous historic sites include its Opera House, which became a symbol of resilience when it reopened in June 2022, and the giant stairway to the harbour, immortalised in Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin.
Although the city suffered significant damage in World War Two, its famed central grid square of low-rise 19th century buildings survived mostly intact.
Odesa was a key Ukrainian tourist hub before Russia's invasion. War changed all that, as the Black Sea became a battlezone. Sea mines still wash up near the city's shoreline.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Himani Sarkar)
Ukraine's Odesa city put on UNESCO heritage in danger list
Sandbags block a street in front of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet building as a preparation for a possible Russian offensive, in Odesa, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2022. The United Nations' cultural agency decided on Wednesday Jan.25, 2023 to add the historic center of Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa to the list of World Heritage in danger. The decision was made at an extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)
SYLVIE CORBET and ELAINE GANLEY
Wed, January 25, 2023
PARIS (AP) — The United Nations' cultural agency decided Wednesday to add the historic center of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites, recognizing “the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to protect it.”
The decision was made at an extraordinary session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Paris.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay praised the move, saying the “legendary port that has left its mark in cinema, literature and the arts” was “thus placed under the reinforced protection of the international community."
“While the war is going on, this inscription embodies our collective determination to ensure that this city ... is preserved from further destruction," Azoulay added in a statement.
Russian forces have launched multiple artillery attacks and airstrikes on Odesa since invading Ukraine 11 months ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on UNESCO in October to put Odesa on its World Heritage List, which recognizes places of “outstanding universal value.” The World Heritage Committee agreed Wednesday while also adding the city's historic center to its list of endangered sites.
Changes to the text proposed by Russia delayed the 21-member committee's vote. In the end, six delegates voted in favor, one voted no and 14 abstained.
Russian delegate Tatiana Dovgalenko lambasted the decision, asserting that local citizens had destroyed some Odesa monuments that were cited to justify the endangered designation.
“Today, we witnessed the funeral of the World Heritage Convention,” she said, adding that pressure prevailed and scientific objectivity “was shamefully violated.”
Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko welcomed the vote's outcome, saying it would protect Odesa’s multicultural history.
“It’s a great historic day," he told reporters. "Definitively, Odesa is under danger due to Russia's full- scale invasion. ... I have very much hope that the umbrella of UNESCO can protect at least Odesa skies and Odesa itself from this barbaric attack of Russians.”
Ukraine is not a member of the UNESCO committee.
Under the 1972 UNESCO convention, ratified by both Ukraine and Russia, signatories undertake to “assist in the protection of the listed sites” and are “obliged to refrain from taking any deliberate measures” which might damage World Heritage sites.
Inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger is meant to “open access to emergency international assistance mechanisms, both technical and financial, to strengthen the protection of the property and help its rehabilitation,” according to UNESCO.
Before Wednesday's vote, Ukraine was home to seven World Heritage sites, including the St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in the capital, Kyiv. To date, none were damaged by the war, although UNESCO noted damage to more than 230 cultural buildings in Ukraine.
Azoulay told reporters that Odesa’s status was examined under an “emergency procedure” amid the ongoing fighting. She said “precise satellite surveillance” was being used for the first time to monitor Ukraine's World Heritage sites.
On its website, UNESCO describes Odesa as the only city in Ukraine that has entirely preserved the urban structure of a multinational southern port town typical of the late 18th and-19th centuries.
Two other sites were Wednesday to the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Ancient Yemenite Kingdom of Saba and the Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, Lebanon.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
SYLVIE CORBET and ELAINE GANLEY
Wed, January 25, 2023
PARIS (AP) — The United Nations' cultural agency decided Wednesday to add the historic center of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites, recognizing “the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to protect it.”
The decision was made at an extraordinary session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Paris.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay praised the move, saying the “legendary port that has left its mark in cinema, literature and the arts” was “thus placed under the reinforced protection of the international community."
“While the war is going on, this inscription embodies our collective determination to ensure that this city ... is preserved from further destruction," Azoulay added in a statement.
Russian forces have launched multiple artillery attacks and airstrikes on Odesa since invading Ukraine 11 months ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on UNESCO in October to put Odesa on its World Heritage List, which recognizes places of “outstanding universal value.” The World Heritage Committee agreed Wednesday while also adding the city's historic center to its list of endangered sites.
Changes to the text proposed by Russia delayed the 21-member committee's vote. In the end, six delegates voted in favor, one voted no and 14 abstained.
Russian delegate Tatiana Dovgalenko lambasted the decision, asserting that local citizens had destroyed some Odesa monuments that were cited to justify the endangered designation.
“Today, we witnessed the funeral of the World Heritage Convention,” she said, adding that pressure prevailed and scientific objectivity “was shamefully violated.”
Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko welcomed the vote's outcome, saying it would protect Odesa’s multicultural history.
“It’s a great historic day," he told reporters. "Definitively, Odesa is under danger due to Russia's full- scale invasion. ... I have very much hope that the umbrella of UNESCO can protect at least Odesa skies and Odesa itself from this barbaric attack of Russians.”
Ukraine is not a member of the UNESCO committee.
Under the 1972 UNESCO convention, ratified by both Ukraine and Russia, signatories undertake to “assist in the protection of the listed sites” and are “obliged to refrain from taking any deliberate measures” which might damage World Heritage sites.
Inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger is meant to “open access to emergency international assistance mechanisms, both technical and financial, to strengthen the protection of the property and help its rehabilitation,” according to UNESCO.
Before Wednesday's vote, Ukraine was home to seven World Heritage sites, including the St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in the capital, Kyiv. To date, none were damaged by the war, although UNESCO noted damage to more than 230 cultural buildings in Ukraine.
Azoulay told reporters that Odesa’s status was examined under an “emergency procedure” amid the ongoing fighting. She said “precise satellite surveillance” was being used for the first time to monitor Ukraine's World Heritage sites.
On its website, UNESCO describes Odesa as the only city in Ukraine that has entirely preserved the urban structure of a multinational southern port town typical of the late 18th and-19th centuries.
Two other sites were Wednesday to the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Ancient Yemenite Kingdom of Saba and the Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, Lebanon.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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