Lazare Eloundou Assomo is an architect and heritage advisor from

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, who, in 2021, was the first African to be appointed head of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre.

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 (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

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 ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

office, and in 2014 was appointed to lead its

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

office. He worked on the reconstruction of mausoleums in

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

that were destroyed by

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

. 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 World Heritage Centre by Audrey Azoulay, 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 is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

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