TOKYO, June 27 (Kyodo) — (EDS: ADDING 4TH TO 7TH GRAFS)
A committee of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization decided at its meeting Saturday not to register the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo and 21 other structures designed by French architect Le Corbusier as World Heritage cultural sites for now and called for additional information on the buildings, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs said.
The decision by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee at the meeting in Seville, Spain, is in line with a recommendation made in May by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, or ICOMOS.
The recommendation by ICOMOS is believed to have made it difficult for UNESCO's committee to decide on registering the buildings on the World Heritage list at the meeting from June 22 to 30.
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Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Ryu Shionoya said Saturday that "It is disappointing it (the museum) was not registered as a World Heritage site."
"I think, however, that the decision to require additional information reflects how we have gained some understanding as a result of coordination among the nations concerned," he said.
Japan "will continue to cooperate with the other countries, including France which has taken the lead in our joint efforts toward registration."
The latest decision allows Japan to apply for possible registration at UNESCO's World Heritage Committee meeting next year at the earliest.
In January 2008, the Japanese government decided to recommend that the museum's main building, designed by Le Corbusier (1887-1965), whose real name was Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, be registered on the list.
In February last year, six countries, based on a proposal from France, jointly submitted a recommendation to register 22 buildings designed by Le Corbusier, including the Tokyo museum. The 22 are in Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
The Tokyo building, completed in 1959, has some distinctive features of Le Corbusier's style of design, including a rooftop garden.
The three-story, reinforced concrete structure in Ueno Park in Tokyo's Taito Ward was registered on a provisional UNESCO list for World Heritage cultural site candidates in September 2007 and was also designated domestically as an important cultural property of Japan in December that year.
Le Corbusier, a pioneer in theoretical studies of modern design, was born in Switzerland and later became a French citizen. He is known as one of the 20th century's leading architects.
In Japan, 11 sites, such as the Iwami silver mine in Shimane Prefecture and Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture, have been registered on the list of World Heritage cultural sites.