Russian Minister Suggests Broadening List of UNESCO Heritage

Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should make a list of the UNESCO world cultural heritage "more diverse and fair," Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said at the conference of SCO culture ministers on Monday. The Russian minister pointed out that in his opinion, there were more monuments of European, rather than SCO culture on the UNESCO list of cultural heritage at present.

"Our task is to make the list more extensive, diverse and perhaps, more fair. Therefore, we are doing everything possible to support the SCO's initiative to enter the SCO objects into the UNESCO list of cultural heritage and its natural landmarks and add the so-called "trans-border" facilities to the UNESCO list. For example, the Tang Shan section of the Great Silk Road that was added last year," the minister said.

"Everyone who has seen the list could see for oneself that it is divided into two parts — a list of UNESCO cultural heritage of the European countries and that of the rest of the world. Italy, which we all know and love as the cradle of the European civilization and culture, has more UNESCO monuments of cultural heritage than many of the countries whose representatives are present here, if not all of them taken together," Medinsky told the conference.

"The qualitative advantage of the European monuments on the UNESCO list has a factor of European self-centrism and their unquestionable correct positioning; this is the way they are promoting their cultural heritage; and they know how to do that," Medinsky said.

The UNESCO list of the world cultural heritage includes more than 1,000 objects of cultural heritage and natural landmarks. Italy with 50 such objects is an unquestionable leader on the list; China is in second position (47), Spain, which has 44 objects of cultural value, is in third position.