Unesco adds Mount Olympus, France's D-Day landing beaches to World Heritage List

The United Nations' cultural body, UNESCO, has expanded its World Heritage List, adding significant sites including the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, France, and the mythical Mount Olympus in Greece. The committee, meeting in Busan, South Korea, also recognized ancient Japanese capitals and a major migratory landscape in South Sudan.

The French designation encompasses the five Normandy landing beaches, Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, and Juno, along with the Pointe du Hoc assault site. These locations were central to the 1944 D-Day landings, a pivotal event in the liberation of Western Europe. The International Council on Monuments and Sites noted the remnants of German fortifications and Allied structures, stating the event "enabled the return of freedom and heralded a lasting peace."

Mount Olympus, revered as the home of the 12 Olympian gods, earned its place as a mixed cultural and natural heritage site after a 12-year effort by Greece. The mountain, Greece's tallest, is celebrated not only for its mythological significance but also for its rich biodiversity.

In Japan, the ancient capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara in Nara prefecture were inscribed. These sites represent Japan's first centralized state, established in the 6th to 8th centuries and modeled after Chinese systems. They preserve buried remains of palaces, government offices, temples, and tombs that influenced later capitals.

South Sudan's Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape, its first World Heritage addition, is a vast area of wetlands, floodplains, and savannas. It hosts one of the world's largest land mammal migrations, with millions of gazelles and other wildlife, while also supporting traditional ethnic communities.

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event widely perceived as having enabled the return of freedom and heralded a lasting peace on the European continent.