The Guggenheim Museum in New York became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
UNESCO included the museum within the serial site titled “The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.” The inscription recognizes eight buildings in the United States that demonstrate Wright’s influential approach to architecture, including his use of geometric order, integration with surroundings, and innovative spatial planning.
The New York museum is especially notable for its continuous spiral ramp and dramatic central rotunda. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the building for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and construction continued after Wright died in 1959. The museum opened that same year.
The UNESCO recognition applies to the Wright-designed building as part of the larger serial listing, not because the museum alone forms a separate UNESCO site. Other listed Wright works include Fallingwater in Pennsylvania and Taliesin in Wisconsin.