UNESCO Adds D-Day Beaches, Mount Olympus and Thai Monastery to Heritage List
Historic World War II landing beaches in France, Greece’s iconic Mount Olympus, a centuries-old monastery in southern Thailand, the ancient capitals of Japan, and a vast wildlife migration sanctuary in South Sudan were officially inscribed onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List on Sunday during a United Nations committee session held in Busan, South Korea.
Meeting through Wednesday to review global cultural and natural nominations, the UNESCO committee added France's Normandy D-Day landing beaches—covering Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, and Juno beaches alongside the Pointe du Hoc assault site—to the prestige list.
The site marks the June 6, 1944 amphibious invasion where over 150,000 Allied