Six Comoros medinas added to UNESCO World Heritage List

On 25 July 2026, UNESCO added six centuries-old medinas in the Comoros to its World Heritage List, making them the first sites from the archipelago to receive the designation.

The medinas were once historic sultanates on Indian Ocean trade routes. The source describes them as ancient cities with palaces, mosques, public squares and narrow streets. Some date back to the 12th century and remain inhabited, although many structures are in serious disrepair.

Comoros Culture Minister Said Mohamed Ali Said, who was part of a government delegation at UNESCO's meeting in Busan, South Korea, said the listing was a source of national pride and should be treated as the start of new preservation work. He said the medinas are living towns where people still pray, trade and celebrate, and said the heritage is fragile and in some places in real danger.

The UNESCO list includes more than 1,200 properties around the world that are considered to have outstanding universal value and to merit protection.

The Comoros, an Islamic country about 300 kilometres off the coast of Africa, has about 870,000 people. The source says the archipelago was for centuries a maritime trade crossroads between east Africa, the Middle East and Madagascar.

Four of the newly listed medinas are on Grande Comore, the main island, and two are on Anjouan. The 14th-century medina in the capital, Moroni, includes the Friday Mosque with its green minaret opposite the dhow port, along with paved alleys and multi-storey houses, some with heavy carved doors. The nearby Itsandra medina is described as a small maritime settlement and a cradle of Swahili civilisation. Farther south, the 12th-century Iconi medina includes the tomb of Prince Said Ibrahim, son of Grande Comore's last sultan, Said Ali.

Ania Mohamed Issa, director general of the heritage promotion office, said the Comorian medinas were once home to historic sultanates but have been changed by uncontrolled urbanisation and modernisation. Faniya Abbas of the Medina Wiratha cultural association said the inscription should support cultural, historical and architectural tourism and heritage preservation.

According to UNESCO's nomination, the medinas have kept their old urban form, structures and traditions, but their oldest structures are highly vulnerable, with several cases in serious disrepair.