Tokyo's National Museum of Western Art recommended for World Heritage listing

A UNESCO advisory panel has recommended putting the main building of the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo and 16 other buildings designed by Le Corbusier on the world body's list of cultural heritage sites, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs said Tuesday.

The recommendation by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, or ICOMOS, is expected to be finalized at a meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Istanbul in July. The museum's main building in Tokyo's Ueno Park will be the 20th world heritage site in Japan and the first in Tokyo. At present, 15 cultural and four natural sites are on the world heritage list for Japan. The building, completed in 1959, features a winding path staircase that slopes through the center of the galleries. It was the sole building in Japan designed by Le Corbusier, a Paris-based architect.