UNESCO's World Heritage Committee unanimously voted to inscribe the "Wider Area of Mount Olympus" on its World Heritage List, Greece's Culture and Environment ministries announced, recognizing the mythical mountain for both its cultural and natural significance during the committee's 48th session in Busan, South Korea.
The designation, made under the demanding "mixed" heritage category requiring documentation of both cultural and natural value, was the only mixed-site nomination considered at this year's session.
It gives Greece three mixed World Heritage sites, alongside Meteora and Mount Athos, bringing the country's total inscriptions to 21.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called it "a national success of the first order," saying Olympus "becomes a mountain of all humanity" that must be protected in perpetuity. He linked the achievement to prior UNESCO successes for the Zagori region and Crete's Minoan palaces.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said the listing affirmed Greece's enduring commitment to preserving its heritage and reflected the "indissoluble unity" of the country's cultural and natural legacy, rooted in Olympus's role in Homeric epic and Greek mythology as home to the twelve Olympian gods.
Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou said Olympus, designated Greece's first national park in 1938, hosts roughly 28% of the country's plant species — more than 1,900, including 27 found nowhere else on Earth — along with brown bears and the country's largest population of chamois.
He said more than €10 million in projects would soon follow to protect the site and improve accessibility.
Officials credited Dr. Dionysia Chatzilakou, director of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Organization (OFYPEKA), for leading the nomination effort, along with Greece's permanent UNESCO representative, George Koumoutsakos.
The bid, prepared jointly by the Environment and Culture ministries, concluded a process launched in 2014.
Rising 2,918 meters near the Aegean coast, Olympus is home to the ancient sanctuary of Dion, considered the most significant archaeological testament to worship of the Olympian gods.