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St. Petersburg to host UNESCO forum on world heritage January 29, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Culture.
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An international forum on the protection of the world’s cultural heritage will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday.

Senior UNESCO officials and prominent experts from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, Greece, and Italy will gather at the Hermitage Museum to discuss ways of preserving cities included by the UN’s cultural body in its World Heritage List.

“The symposium will focus on the protection of historical cityscapes, including against potential damage by urban development works,” the organizers said.

Strategies to protect the heritage of Russia’s second city will also be high on the agenda of the forum, to run through February 3, they said.

The World Heritage List features 830 cultural and natural sites recognized as having universal cultural or natural importance. St. Petersburg’s historical center was included in the list in 1990.

Stepped street of King Herod unearthed in Jerusalem January 29, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Culture.
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An international archaeological team excavating the City of David in Jerusalem has found a stepped street of the King Herod days.

The 600-meter-long street led from the City of David to the Second Temple, Radio Vatican said on Sunday. Structures that look like shops and the road width suggest that it might have been the main street of the ancient town.

The archaeologists have also unearthed drainage canals mentioned in the Jewish War chronicles by Joseph Flavius. Locals were hiding there when soldiers of Roman Emperor Titus seized Jerusalem and burned down the Second Temple in 70 B.C. Dishes, stone instruments and other household appliances were found.

The excavations will go on for another three years. So far, only a 30-meter piece of the street has been unearthed.

A link of the lower water pipeline that connected the Solomon’s Pool near Bethlehem to the Temple Mount was found earlier. A mikwe, a ritual bath of the Second Temple times, was discovered near the Wailing Wall.