Nara Palaces Nominated for UNESCO World Heritage

NARA, Sep 11 (News On Japan) - Nara's Asuka and Fujiwara Palaces have been officially recommended as a candidate for UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list, with the goal of achieving registration at the World Heritage Committee meeting scheduled for the year after next.

Tetsurō Hishida, chairman of the World Cultural Heritage Subcommittee at the Cultural Council, made the announcement on Monday, stating, "We have selected the 'Asuka and Fujiwara Palaces' as a candidate for World Heritage status."

On this day, the Agency for Cultural Affairs held a meeting of the Cultural Council, which discusses candidates for UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list, and decided to recommend the "Asuka and Fujiwara Palaces" in Nara Prefecture as Japan's domestic candidate. The site includes the remains of Asuka Palace, Fujiwara Palace, and the Takamatsuzuka Tomb, known for its murals depicting the "Asuka Beauty."

In 2023, the nomination was postponed due to concerns that preservation efforts for the ruins were insufficient. Since then, local governments have worked to designate additional sites as historic landmarks and submitted a draft of the nomination document to the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

The agency plans to submit the final nomination document to UNESCO by the end of January 2025, aiming for registration at the World Heritage Committee in the following year.

Source: YOMIURI

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