Lazare Eloundou Assomo (born 1968) is a Cameroonian architect and heritage advisor, who, in 2021, was the first African to be appointed head of UNESCO's

World Heritage Centre UNESCO Headquarters, or Maison de l'UNESCO, is a building inaugurated on 3 November 1958 at number 7 Place de Fontenoy in Paris, France, to serve as the headquarters for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ...

Career

Assomo graduated from the Grenoble School of Architecture in 1996 and worked as a researcher there at the Centre for Earthen Construction. Early project he worked on were praised by

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

for their community-centred approaches. He joined UNESCO in 2003 and worked on the implementation of the African World Heritage Fund, and the World Heritage Earthen Architecture Program. From 2008 to 2013, he led the Africa Unit of World Heritage Centre, and from there joined UNESCO's

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

office, and in 2014 was appointed to lead its

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

office. He worked on the reconstruction of mausoleums in

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...

that were destroyed by

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

. In 2016 he returned to the World Heritage Centre as Deputy Director of the Heritage Division, before being appointed in 2018 Director of Culture and Emergencies. In December 2021, he was appointed Head of the

Audrey Azoulay Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French Jew of Moroccan descent, French Civil Service, civil servant and politician who has served as the 11th Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UN ...

, replacing

Mechtild Rössler Mechtild Rössler is a German feminist geographer and cultural heritage scholar. From 2015 until her retirement in November 2021 she was Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center in Paris. She was preceded by Kishore Rao, and was succeeded by ...

. He is the centre's fifth director and the first African to hold the position. He has been outspoken on the subject of the study of "colonial heritage" in Africa.

References

External links

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Rebuilding the al-Nouri Mosque - Damage assessment
(video report) *

Interview with Lazare Eloundou Assomo, UNESCO World Heritage Centre
(interview) {{DEFAULTSORT:Assomo, Lazare Eloundou Cameroonian architects Living people UNESCO officials 1968 births