Abstract
This chapter explores the involvement of the IAU in the promotion of astronomical sites as potential World Heritage. The most obvious such connection is in the context of the Astronomy and World Heritage Initiative (AWHI), a Thematic Initiative within UNESCO for which the IAU have been joint partners since 2008, and which has helped bring about a number of recent inscriptions onto the World Heritage List of sites relating to astronomy, both ancient and modern. But the IAU’s involvement in efforts to promote astronomical World Heritage goes back before the creation of the AWHI, and the example of the Pic-du-Midi Observatory provides a link extending back to the earliest days of the IAU.
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Ruggles, C.L.N. (2022). The IAU-UNESCO “Astronomy and World Heritage Initiative” and the Pic du Midi Observatory. In: Montmerle, T., Fauque, D. (eds) Astronomers as Diplomats. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98625-4_18
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