San Miguel de Allende Part of World Heritage

Filed in archive Latin Culture on July 19, 2008

© g_leon_h



The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added the beautiful Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende to its list of Wold Heritage Sites.

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention is a treaty that has become, over the past 30 years, the foremost international legal tool in support of the conservation of the world's cultural and natural heritage. Today, 178 countries (called States Parties) have ratified the Convention, making it an almost universally accepted set of principles and framework of action.-UNESCO

El Universal stated in their article that this acceptance makes Mexico the country with the greatest number of sites on this international list. They exaggerated a bit (Italy has more), but it's true enough for the Americas.

According to the UNESCO list, Mexico has 29 places included so far and 34 tentative sites.

Making the list means the international community has recognized a particular place as part of world heritage and worth protecting. Member nations and private donors contribute to the Word Heritage Fund, and with this income UNESCO provides assistance for educational and promotional activities, technical cooperation, emergency assistance, etc., in an effort to conserve these sites.

San Miguel's largest industry is tourism, so support for their conservation efforts is more than good news, it's income-producing great news.