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UNESCO

specialised agency of the United Nations for education, sciences, and culture

35 dated entries naming UNESCO, drawn from 28 separate years between 1255 CE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Director-General of UNESCO, Unesco, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

JSONWikipedia articleWikidata Q7809

13th century

  • 1255The Gothic cathedral at Bourges in central France, is completed (it will become a UNESCO World Heritage Site).source
  • 1259The famous frescoes of the Boyana Church in Bulgaria are completed (the church and its murals are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site).source
  • 1260October 24 – The Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France (the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site).source

20th century

  • 1945November 16 – The foundation of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is agreed at a meeting in London.source
  • 1946November 4 – UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • 194810 December – Turkey became a member of UNESCOsource
  • 1952February 21 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest, which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.source
  • 1958November 3 – The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.source
  • 1966October 5 – UNESCO signs the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. This event is to be celebrated as World Teachers' Day.source
  • 1968David Suzuki wins UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science writingsource
  • 1971May 28 – Portugal resigns from UNESCO.source
  • 1972November 16 – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopts the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.source
  • 1983Bangladeshi author Abdullah-Al-Muti won the UNESCO Kalinga Prize.source
  • 1986May 16 – The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.source
  • 1986November – Giant's Causeway and the Causeway Coast is included in the first tranche of UNESCO World Heritage Sites designated in the UKsource
  • 199129 April – 3 May – A UNESCO seminar was held in Windhoek, where the Windhoek Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent and Pluralistic Press was made.source
  • 1992February 3 – South African State President F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, African National Congress leader, are jointly awarded the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.source
  • 1998In May 1998, UNESCO issued a technical report on the Endless Column, part of the Sculptural Ensemble of Constantin Brâncuși at Târgu Jiu, which is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This document is stated to have represented a milestone in the history of the Endless Column. On its provisions, the Romanian Government commissioned new tests on the Column's spine, which revealed that it was more suitable to preserve it than to replace it.source
  • 2000February 21 – UNESCO holds the inaugural celebration of International Mother Language Day.source

21st century

  • 2003November – Edward Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition, at Clervaux, is added to UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' register.source
  • 2005October 20 – The general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passes the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.source
  • 2007June 28: UNESCO designates 22 new World Heritage Sites, including Sydney Opera House, Canada's Rideau Canal, Japan's Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, Turkmenistan's Parthian Fortresses of Nisa, India's Red Fort complexes, the Lope-Okanda Landscape of Gabon, the Richtersveld desert of South Africa, the rock carvings of Twyfelfontein in Namibia, the fortified tower houses of Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China, Teide National Park in the Canary Islands, Spain, ancient beech forests of Central Europe, Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bordeaux and the Port de la Lune in France, the Old Town of Corfu in Greece, the Palace of Galerius in Gamzigrad-Romuliana in Serbia.source
  • 2009April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.source
  • 2009June 26 – The Ruins of Loropéni were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Ruins were the second out of three total sites in Burkina Faso to be added to the list, and was the country's first cultural UNESCO site.source
  • 2011October 31 – UNESCO admits Palestine as a member, following a vote which 107 member states support and 14 oppose.source
  • 201515 May – Singapore Botanical Gardens gets ICOMOS nod to be the first UNESCO World Heritage Site.source
  • 2017October 12 – The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO, and is immediately followed by Israel.source
  • 2019October 31 – A fire destroys much of the 500-year-old Japanese Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.source
  • 2020April 13 – A historical landmark church inside Haiti's UNESCO World Heritage site, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church in Milot, is destroyed in a fire.source
  • 202511 July – Mount Mulanje is designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.source
  • 202513 July – The Maputo National Park is designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of an expansion from the ISimangaliso Wetland Park in neighbouring South Africa.source
  • 202513 July – The Gola-Tiwai complex, which includes Tiwai Island and the Gola Rainforest National Park, is designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.source
  • 2025September 27 – The Seven Brothers Islands are designated as biosphere reserves by UNESCO.source
  • 202527 September – The Mantadia and Tsimembo nature reserves are designated as biosphere reserves by UNESCO.source
  • 2025November 6 – Khaled El-Enany is elected the new Director-General of UNESCO.source

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