On 10 September 2023, Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, will host the launch of the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, at which the inscription of the old town of Kuldīga (“Kuldīga / Goldingen in Courland”) on the UNESCO World Heritage List will be considered.
The Latvian delegation comprising representatives from the Ministry of Culture, the Kuldīga Municipal Council, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration will be headed by Indulis Ābelis, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Latvia to the OECD and UNESCO.
Alongside Kuldīga, the Committee will examine 50 other nominations made by the governments of other countries concerning inscription of sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Over 20 years, the municipal authorities of Kuldīga have been working to set the scene for its old town to be put on the UNESCO World Heritage List of cultural properties.
For further information, see: whc.unesco.org
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.
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.
Photo: Municipality of Kuldīga region