UNESCO panel recommends postponing listing Tokyo museum as heritage+

TOKYO, May 12 Kyodo -
A body advising the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has
recommended postponing registering the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo
and 21 other structures designed by French architect Le Corbusier as World
Heritage cultural sites, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs said Tuesday.

The recommendation by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, or
ICOMOS, is believed to make it difficult for UNESCO's World Heritage Committee
to decide on registering the buildings on the World Heritage list at a meeting
to be held June 22-30 in Seville, Spain.
In January 2008, the Japanese government decided to recommend that the museum's
main building, designed by Le Corbusier (1887-1965), whose real name was
Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, be registered on the list.
In February last year, six countries, based on a proposal from France, jointly
submitted a recommendation to register 22 buildings designed by Le Corbusier,
including the Tokyo museum. The 22 are in Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany,
Japan and Switzerland.
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Ryu Shionoya told
reporters Tuesday that Japan will continue cooperating with the five other
countries until a decision is made in June.
The Tokyo building, completed in 1959, has some distinctive features of Le
Corbusier's style of design, including a rooftop garden.
The three-story, reinforced concrete structure in Ueno Park in Tokyo's Taito
Ward was registered on a provisional UNESCO list for World Heritage cultural
site candidates in September 2007 and was also designated domestically as an
important cultural property of Japan in December that year.
Le Corbusier, a pioneer in theoretical studies of modern design, was born in
Switzerland and later became a French citizen. He is known as one of the 20th
century's leading architects.
In Japan, 11 sites, such as the Iwami silver mine in Shimane Prefecture and
Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture, have been registered on the list of World
Heritage cultural sites.
==Kyodo