Radio | Clear News | Sunday 26.1.2025

UNESCO World Heritage List

This time in the news week we will be talking about the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Finland proposes that Alvar Aalto’s architecture be included on the list as a new World Heritage Site.

Now we will tell you more about it.

Alvar Aalto’s architecture

Alvar Aalto’s architecture: Finlandia Hall, Paimio Sanatorium and Villa Mairea. Photo: AOP, Maija Holma / Alvar Aalto Foundation

Finland proposes that Alvar Aalto’s architecture be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Finnish presentation includes 13 different buildings or areas designed by architect Alvar Aalto. These include, for example, Finlandia Hall and the Culture House in Helsinki, the Aalto Campus of the University of Jyväskylä, Paimio Sanatorium, the Sunila residential area in Kotka, and Villa Mairea in Pori.

Alvar Aalto is Finland’s most famous architect. He died in 1976.

Culture and nature

Italy has the most World Heritage Sites. Here is one of them: Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. Photo: IPA / Backgrid

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has maintained a list of World Heritage Sites for about 50 years.

Only unique cultural and natural sites are accepted for the list. The aim is to protect these valuable sites so that they can be passed on to future generations.

Currently, there are a total of approximately 1,200 sites on the World Heritage List. The majority of them are cultural sites.

There are sites in about 170 countries in total. Italy has the most World Heritage sites, with about 60 different sites.

World Heritage from Finland

The old church of Petäjävesi was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994. Photo: Petteri Bülow / Yle

There are also Finnish sites on the UNESCO list. Finland currently has 7 World Heritage sites.

The list includes, for example, Suomenlinna, Old Rauma and the old church of Petäjävesi. The Kvarken archipelago is Finland’s only natural site on the UNESCO list.

The Finnish Antiquities Authority believes that Alvar Aalto’s architecture will also be accepted for the World Heritage List. A decision on the matter may come next year.

Repetition

The topic of the news week was UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Let’s recap a bit.

Finland proposes that Alvar Aalto’s architecture be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The list includes unique cultural and natural sites that are intended to be protected for future generations.

There are already 7 Finnish destinations on the list.

This was Uutisviikko in plain Finnish. See you again next week.