The UNESCO Heritage Committee has elected the city of Rio de Janeiro as the first big city to receive the title of World Heritage Site in the Urban Landscape category. The decision was made at the Committee’s 36^th session in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage – IPHAN – presented Rio’s candidacy in 2009 with the concept of the harmonious relationship between nature and culture. In January 2011, UNESCO’s World Heritage Center in Paris included Rio de Janeiro’s candidacy on the agenda for the Committee in 2012.

For Paulo Senise, Executive Director of Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau, the title comes in a very special moment for Rio de Janeiro.

“It is crowning all of the efforts of Rio’s tourism industry and raising the city to a position of prominence in the travel and tourism market,” said Senise.

The Committee cited the dramatic landscape of Rio de Janeiro as being an inspiration for many forms of art, literature, poetry and music.  Such high recognition factors can be either positive or negative: in the case of Rio, the image that was projected, and still is projected, is one of a staggeringly beautiful location for one of the world’s biggest cities.

Rio de Janeiro, www.rcvb.com.br