The Church of St. Pierre at Firminy by Le Corbusier

PARIS—In the course of the 35th session of UNESCO'sConvention on World Heritage here last week, the organization's list grew by 25 sites, including historic Bridgetown and its garrison in Barbados, the Persian Gardenin Iran, and the ancient villages of northern Syria. But the meeting also had more than its share of controversy: fans of Le Corbusier complained that France did not fight hard enough to have 19 of the architect's buildings included on the list, and two political disputes erupted, one regarding an exhibition about Armenian monuments and another over a cultural site located on a disputed border between Cambodia and Thailand.

UNESCO's list now includes 936 sites, classified as "cultural," "natural," or "mixed," and deemed world treasures worthy of preservation. While the organization selected the French sites of Causses and Cévennes, considered "agro-pastoral cultural landscapes," it turned down 19 structures by the great architect Le Corbusier, distressing those who supported the nomination. It was the second time that this group of Le Corbusier's buildings, scattered in Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Japan, and Switzerland, was turned down. It was a discouraging defeat for the architect's supporters, since this time UNESCO took issue with the concept of nominating a series of buildings in different locations as one cultural site. Marc Petit, the mayor of Firminy, a town in southern France filled with buildings by Le Corbusier, was one of those disappointed by the rejection. "I'm sorry that France didn't fight. What's worse, our country praised the decision," he told Le Monde, comparing it to getting "to the World Cup finals and decid[ing] to forfeit the game."

Examples of khachkars, Armenian stone monuments with crosses

But, leaving the new additions to the list aside, much more virulent discontent accompanied events at UNESCO. The exhibition "Art of the Khachkars: Armenian Stone Crosses" showed photographs of the traditional Armenian stone steles with crosses and often elaborate botanical motifs, which were first made in the 9th century. But a few hours before the exhibition of was set to open, UNESCO employees took down the captions under the photographs which gave the monuments' locations — including spots in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Members of the French-Armenian community in Paris protested at the show, and Haroutioun Khatchadourian, an Armenian engineer, wrote an opinion piece in Le Monde denouncing this decision, which he attributed to the fact that Turkey and Azerbaijan "have been trying desperately for a century to suppress all traces of Armenians from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caspian Sea." In addition to castigating UNESCO for such a "shameful mess," he also blames the organization for doing nothing to prevent the destruction of Armenian khachkars in a cemetery in Nakhichevan, an autonomous region of Azerbaijan, in 2006, and never investigating the incident. According to Armenian news site NEWS.am, UNESCO said in a statement that it did not censor the exhibition, but that "when an activity taking place at UNESCO headquarters involves other countries, it is standard practice that prior consultation with those countries should be undertaken." According to UNESCO, this condition was not met, and the Armenian delegation agreed to remove the captions.

The Khmer temple of Preah Vihear

More political fireworks broke out when Thailand's representative walked out on discussions of thePreah Vihear Temple. The Hindu temple, most of which dates to the 11th and 12th centuries, is located in disputed territory along the Cambodia-Thailand border, but the International Court of Justice gave Cambodia control of the temple in 1962, according to the AP. The temple received World Heritage status in 2008 despite Thailand's objections, and border skirmishes have killed at least 20 people since then, but most observers do not expect the issue to lead to war. Thailand said that a plan was under discussion to give Cambodia control over managing the temple and that the matter should not be taken up until the border is clearly demarcated. However, in a statement, UNESCO said that such a plan was not being discussed but that "instead the committee reaffirmed the need to ensure the protection and conservation of the temple site from any damage." According to the Bangkok Post, natural resources and environment minister Suwit Khunkitti said that Thailand will rejoin the World Heritage Convention only if the Preah Vihear Temple is temporarily taken off the world heritage list.