UNESCO to decide on Mount Olympus World Heritage listing on Sunday
The 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, will discuss Greece’s nomination of Mount Olympus for inscription on the UNESCO list tomorrow at 6 a.m. Greek time.
The bid
Greece first proposed Mount Olympus for World Heritage listing in 2014, arguing its cultural and environmental significance merits recognition. The nomination will be examined tomorrow, 26 July, during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee, which runs in Busan, South Korea, until 29 July. A Greek delegation led by Georgios Koumoutsakos, the country’s permanent representative to UNESCO, has held intensive talks with other delegations in recent days to build support. Though technical bodies within UNESCO had earlier expressed reservations that the proposal was not yet ready, reports from Busan suggest the mood has shifted and there is optimism of a positive vote.
In the Greek team we are doing everything possible to fulfill the expectations of many people back home, while also believing that Olympus and the thousands of years of history that surround it belong not only to Greece and Hellenism but also to universal culture.
The mountain's heritage
Mount Olympus rises to 2,918 metres above sea level and is described by Homer as the "seat of the immortals", where Zeus ruled. Its landscape encompasses dense forests, alpine meadows, gorges, ravines and springs, all a short distance from the sea. The nearest town, Litochoro, lies only 5 kilometres from beaches almost at the mountain’s foot. The area was declared Greece’s first national forest in 1938, a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1981, and a national park by presidential decree in 2021.
- Declared Greece’s first national forest
- Designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve
- Greece first submits World Heritage nomination
- Declared a national park by presidential decree
- World Heritage Committee to vote on inscription
Why it matters
Around 500,000 visitors climbed the mountain last year, a figure expected to grow with renewed interest in antiquity following the release of Christopher Nolan’s film "The Odyssey". Evangelos Geroliolios told The Guardian that inclusion would be significant not only for Greeks but for the entire planet. “Mount Olympus is on the same level as the Parthenon and it is vital that we protect this environment of myth and history. For us, protection is the alpha and omega,” he said. Should the committee approve the nomination, Olympus would become a mixed cultural and natural heritage site, joining only two other Greek entries of that type among the country’s 21 listed properties.
Its inclusion in the World Heritage Sites would be significant not only for Greeks. It would concern the entire planet.
The global context
Last year, UNESCO added 26 new sites, bringing the World Heritage list to 1,428 inscriptions across 170 countries. A successful designation automatically grants the mountain a protected-zone status under the international convention, alongside monuments such as the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal. The decision, expected in the early hours of Sunday Greek time, would cap a lobbying campaign that has involved weeks of diplomatic outreach by Koumoutsakos and experts from Greece’s culture and environment ministries.
