Have you ever wondered what UN Headquarters was like during the Cold War?

You can find out this summer by taking a special tour co-organized by the UN Guided Tours Unit and Loraine Sievers, author of?An UNwilling Spy: A Cold War Novel Set at the United Nations.

As the novel¡¯s story develops, the UN Building becomes the setting for a dangerous web tightening around a young staff member, who unwittingly finds herself threatened by clashing interests during the Cold War.

The tours, which are open only to members of delegations and UN staff, take participants to locations where scenes in the novel take place, bringing to life the plot and its characters.

While some scenes play out in well-known parts of the UN premises, others occur in places largely unseen by diplomats or staff. The tour highlights many of these and includes photos from decades past.

The tour also focuses on selected pieces in the UN¡¯s extraordinary art collection, which plays a central role in the plot.

¡°It is a tour that brings fiction to reality, from a novel that somehow looks like reality as well,¡±?said Andres Montalvo, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations, at the end of the visit.

Author Loraine Sievers was a long-serving UN staff member, who worked in three departments and completed her career as Chief of the Security Council Secretariat Branch.

More Information:

  • Registration required a minimum of three days in advance

  • All participants must show a valid grounds pass at the start of the tour

  • Tours will assemble in the Secretariat Building Lobby at the entrance to the old cafeteria

  • Tours will start at 1:15 p.m. and will last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes

  • Tours will finish in the Visitors Lobby

  • Tentative dates: 21 July, 4 August, 18 August, and 1 September

  • To register, please send an email to?hinedi@un.org with?lorainesievers@gmail.com in copy, which specifies your full name and preferred tour date

While this tour is open only to staff and diplomats, the Guided Tours Unit offers other special and thematic visits open to all.

Join one of our?specialized public tours?to learn more about the work of the Organization in specific areas.

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