Despite Russian objections, the ancient center of Odessa, a Ukrainian port city known as “the pearl of the Black Sea,” was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List on Wednesday (January 25). The global heritage committee’s 21 member nations approved the city’s classification as a world-historic site with six votes in favor, one against, and 14 abstentions.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February last year, constantly pushed to delay the vote to declare the site’s “outstanding universal value” and “the duty of all humanity to protect it”.
“While the war continues, this inscription embodies our collective determination to ensure that this city, which has always surmounted global upheavals, is preserved from further destruction,” said UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay after the decision.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, hailed the decision. He had asked for the classification in October to protect the city from Russian bombing. “Today Odessa got UNESCO protection,” he said on Twitter. “I’m grateful to partners who help protect our pearl from the Russian invaders’ attacks,” he added.
Since the Russian invasion, Ukrainians have hurriedly tried to protect the city’s landmarks and structures with sandbags and barriers.
The property was also included in UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger, which “gives it access to strengthened technical and financial international help” to safeguard or, if required, restore it.
The organization also noted that it has already supported repairs to the Odessa Museum of Fine Arts and the Odessa Museum of Modern Art that have been sustained since the commencement of the Russia-Ukraine war.
