40th Anniversary of the Unesco Heritage Convention

It was 16 November 1972, when the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity was approved by the UNESCO General Conference in Paris. The idea of creating an international movement to protect cultural sites on the one hand and natural heritage on the other, thus creating an interaction and balance between the two, was born after World War II. The Convention, establishes the obligation of member states to regularly provide the Committee with a report on the conservation status of listed sites. It also encourages raising public awareness of world heritage sites and improving their protection through information and education programmes. 'Safeguarding our heritage for future generations', is the imperative that the Convention and its member states have set themselves as a warning, intent and goal. Today, forty years after its stipulation, World Heritage is well understood, so much so that the listed sites attract international cooperation, stimulate forms of mutual collaboration and management models. With the sheet signed by M. Ventura, ‘From the Pyramids to the Galapagos, to the whole world’ the Azienda Autonoma di Stato Filatelica e Numismatica of the ancient Republic of San Marino, inaugurates the first issue after the agreement signed on 3 November 2011 in the official seat of UNESCO where the ‘San Marino-Unesco Project’ was signed, which envisages a multi-year cooperation for the valorisation of the World Heritage through philately in the Titan. The first stamp in the proposed series, not by chance, sees the ‘Old Town and Mount Titano’ stand out as a World Heritage Site, together with other priceless assets.