St. Petersburg hosts UNESCO session

St. Petersburg began hosting a session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee on June 24th, with 36 sites being considered for inscription on the organisation's list of protected places.

Choosing St. Petersburg, which itself is a world heritage site, was certainly the right thing to do,said UNESCO spokesperson Eleonora Mitrofanova at a press conference ahead of the session, adding that the city won the honour in part owing to its status as a masterpiece of human genius.

All of my colleagues are delighted, she said.

Its a great honour to our country to receive the Committee. This is a large-scale event attended by high-ranking participants from nearly 190 countries.

The Russian Federation has itself put forward several proposals regarding its own heritage sites.

Russian proposals take in a series of kremlins (fortified city complexes that were traditional in medieval Russia). Moscow has also put forward the Lena Pillars Nature Park in the natural sites category.

Chad, Congo, Palau, and Qatar have all made their first submissions to UNESCO for this year's session.