United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Mount Olympus seeks UNESCO World Heritage status

Greece is pushing for Mount Olympus to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, with a decision expected during the 48th World Heritage Committee session in Busan as Greece lobbies for support amid growing optimism after earlier technical reservations. The bid underscores Olympus’s cultural, mythological, and environmental significance—including its status as Greece’s highest peak, its mythic role as the throne of Zeus, and protections from a national forest in 1938 to a biosphere reserve in 1981 and a national park in 2021.