Gift of Light to Dimming World Heritage Sites

A UNESCO-Dong-A Ilbo Joint Project

Moon God Leaving…Peru\'s Chan Chan Archaeological Zone Disappearing in Desert Winds
Tents abound in Peru\'s Chan Chan archaeological zone to protect mud bricks from rainfall. Heavy rain and poor maintenance due to a dearth of funds have already destroyed a large portion of the diamond-shaped wall decorations which are a symbol of the Chan Chan site. Only the bottom parts of the walls remain.

With the recognition of Hahoe and Yangdong as world heritage sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Korea has 10 cultural and natural world heritage properties to its name. But behind the "light," which is a place on the renowned list, is the "shadow" of swarming tourists or even negligence. It's not recognition that's important, but the effort to preserve the properties.

The Dong-A Ilbo and UNESCO will introduce world heritage sites all over the world as well as efforts to maintain and restore them in a series of articles. We will follow up an initial series of five articles with an in-depth series about intangible cultural assets until next May. This series is a result of a memorandum of understanding between the Dong-A Ilbo and UNESCO to form a "media partnership for the protection of world heritages," a first for a Korean media company.