On 17 September 2023, at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, a decision was taken on the inscription of the old town of Kuldīga (“Kuldīga / Goldingen in Courland”) on the UNESCO the World Heritage List.
The positive vote concludes a period of intensive and creative efforts by the Kuldīga Municipal Council and all the involved municipal authorities over more than 20 years to set the scene for the old town to be put on the UNESCO World Heritage List of cultural properties. That included reconditioning of, and research on cultural heritage sites, setting up the Kuldīga Restoration Centre, as well as educating the public in heritage matters.
The Latvian delegation comprising representatives from the Ministry of Culture, the Kuldīga Municipal Council, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration is headed by Indulis Ābelis, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Latvia to the OECD and UNESCO.
“I am truly proud that our Kuldīga is joining the representative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is an acknowledgement to all of us, but first of all to the city and its people for their tireless work day after day to study, learn, build and take care of their Kuldīga,” Ambassador Ābelis underlined.
Inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List means that the unique value of the old town of Kuldīga has been recognised and that Kuldīga has been marked on the world map as an important cultural heritage site. It also means substantial further work to adequately protect and preserve that value in line with the high standards of UNESCO.
Background information
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee meets at annual sessions to discuss the management of current World Heritage sites and to examine nominations submitted by countries for the World Heritage List.
The 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was originally scheduled to take place in Russia in 2022, but the full-scale war on Ukraine sparked protests from States Parties, which saw the session to be moved to Saudi Arabia this year.
Besides Kuldīga, the Committee examined at this session 50 other nominations made by the governments of other countries concerning inscription of sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Video: unesco.kuldiga.lv
Photo: Bruno Deslandes
