The list of monuments of cultural and environmental importance protected by Unesco has risen to 339, including the palace of Sans Souci and other palaces and parks at Potsdam, the only site in the former DDR recognised by the United Nations as forming part of our international cultural heritage.
Monuments in the Soviet Union also now figure on the list for the first time: Red Square and the Kremlin, the historic centre of Leningrad, and the cathedral of Santa Sophia and the Lawra monastery at Kiev.
Unesco has recently launched a campaign to raise around $150,000 million (£88,000) to safeguard twenty-four sites and monuments of universal human interest.
These include Venice; archaeological excavations at Carthage; the artistic treasures of the Jesuit missions to the Guarani; the acropolis at Athens, now under threat from pollution; Havana’s Plaza Vieja; the medinas and catacombs of Malta; the holy city of Fez in Morocco; the Guatemalan city of Antiqua; Hue, the former capital of Vietnam; and other monuments in Mauretania, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, Turkey, Yemen, Peru, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Bangladesh and Egypt.
• Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper with the headline "Potsdam and Kremlin listed"