Karibu Zanzibar Stone Town

Zanzibar Stone Town is a unique place. The intriguing history tells us about brave sea traders, explorers, Sultans and the fragrance of exotic spices. The exceptional architecture and construction of the coral stone buildings and narrow streets carries the imprints of the influences of various cultures and traditions brought in by the Stone Town inhabitants. Each building; its windows, its carved doors, its walls tells its own historical past.

In the year 2000, Zanzibar Stone Town got inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Following this, some committed citizens and well-wishers interested in conserving and preserving Stone Town, decided to form a non-governmental organisation. The Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society was officially registered in June 2002. Currently, the Society has a membership of over 200 members, and works with communities within Stone Town in preserving its heritage and culture.

The Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society

We work for:

  • The preservation of the heritage of Stone Town.


  • The conservation of Zanzibar Stone Town.


  • The environmental and cultural welfare of its inhabitants.


    • Stone Town: A Cultural Heritage Site Inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage List

    Criteria

  • The Town of Zanzibar is an outstanding material manifestation of cultural fusion and harmonization. Mosques to churches, Indian temples to the Omani palaces and so forth are a testimony to the thousands of years of mutual tolerance among communities of different cultural origins.


  • For many centuries there was intense sea borne trading activity between Asia and Africa, and this is illustrated in an exceptional manner by the architecture and urban structure of Stone Town.


  • Zanzibar has great symbolic importance in the suppression of slavery, since it was one of the main slave-trading ports in East Africa and also the base from which its opponents such as David Livingstone conducted their campaigns.


    • The World Heritage Convention

    The World Heritage Convention was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972. The Convention Concerns the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

    To date, more than 198 countries have adhered to the Convention, making it one of the most universal international legal instruments for the protection of the cultural and natural heritage.

    By fostering communications between managers and the exchange of know-how pertaining to the management of World Heritage Cities, the OWHC is helping to support public officials in the execution of the responsibilities that each government that is a party to the Convention has assumed by signing the agreement, i.e., to act as the key guarantor of the preservation of the sites and monuments included on the UNESCO World Heritage List located within its territory.
      
      
     
      
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
      © Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society 2006 - 2011