Senior UNESCO officials and prominent experts from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, Greece, and Italy will gather at the Hermitage Museum to discuss ways of preserving cities included by the UN's cultural body in its World Heritage List.
"The symposium will focus on the protection of historical cityscapes, including against potential damage by urban development works," the organizers said.
Strategies to protect the heritage of Russia's second city will also be high on the agenda of the forum, to run through February 3, they said.
The World Heritage List features 830 cultural and natural sites recognized as having universal cultural or natural importance. St. Petersburg's historical center was included in the list in 1990.
