For the first time in its history, the Comoros has one of its cultural properties recognized by UNESCO. Meeting in Busan, South Korea, for its 48th session, the World Heritage Committee approved the inscription of the historic sultanate medinas of the Comoros onto the prestigious World Heritage List on Saturday. Six cities, spread across Grande Comore and Anjouan, now join an exclusive club of more than 1,200 cultural and natural properties recognized as having outstanding value for humanity as a whole.
The six medinas involved, Ikoni, Moroni, Itsandra and Ntsudjini on the island of Grande Comore, along with Domoni and Mutsamudu on Anjouan, bear the marks of a long urban history. Some of these city-states were built as early as the twelfth century along the great trade routes of the Indian Ocean, at a time when the Comoros archipelago, located roughly 300 kilometers off the coast of East Africa, sat at the crossroads of maritime exchange linking Africa, the Middle East and Madagascar. These medinas are distinguished by their defensive walls, palaces, mosques and public squares, all woven into a dense network of narrow lanes, a living testament to Swahili architecture and the ancient sultanates that once governed the archipelago.
This inscription is the result of a long process that began back in 2007, the year Comorian authorities first launched the effort toward international recognition. It took nearly twenty years of work for this heritage to clear every stage of the listing process, culminating in this achievement in Busan. For Said Mohamed Ali Said, the Comorian Minister of Culture, who led a substantial government delegation at the session, this listing « is not a finish line but a starting point. » He was careful to stress that these medinas are not simply relics frozen in the past, but « living cities, where people continue to pray, trade and mark life’s great milestones exactly as our ancestors did, » expressing what he called immense national pride.
Other delegations present in Busan welcomed the recognition. The representative of the Republic of Korea wished the Comoros every success in preserving this exceptional heritage, while Jamaica’s representative congratulated the archipelago on the work carried out throughout the preparation process, a long technical and diplomatic exercise familiar to any state that has pursued such a listing.
Beyond its symbolic weight, the inscription opens up concrete prospects for an archipelago of fewer than a million people. It first strengthens the Comoros’ international visibility, no small asset for a small island state that has sometimes struggled to carve out a place on the global diplomatic and tourism stage. The listing could draw greater interest from researchers, international partners, investors and tourists drawn to this unique cultural heritage. If well leveraged, this renewed attention could help develop the local economy through tourism, crafts, hospitality and food service, sectors capable of creating jobs in the areas concerned.
The inscription also opens the door to technical and financial support from UNESCO and other international partners for restoration, conservation and heritage enhancement projects. That support isn’t automatic, however: World Heritage status doesn’t come with a guaranteed funding envelope, and any financing must be sought case by case through existing mechanisms.
The Minister of Culture was careful to acknowledge the fragility of this heritage, recognizing that some sites are, in places, in genuine danger. « The listing changes things, it places obligations on us, but it also opens doors, » he summed up. For his part, Comorian President Azali Assoumani reaffirmed the state’s commitment to protecting the medinas, passing them on to future generations, and developing them sustainably, a pledge that will now need to translate into concrete conservation efforts as international attention turns toward these centuries-old lanes of the Indian Ocean.
