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World Heritage Properties in Germany
With its ratification of the World Heritage Convention, Germany has undertaken to conserve its natural and cultural properties which have significance for mankind as a whole. It has also undertaken to propose properties of “outstanding universal value” for inscription on the World Heritage List.
A glance at the current World Heritage List shows that in the efforts to protect world heritage both globally and in Germany, there is an imbalance between cultural and natural properties. Of the 33 World Heritage properties in Germany, only one is a Natural World Heritage property, namely Messel Pit Fossil Site in Hesse. The other 32 are cultural properties, such as Cologne Cathedral, Muskauer Park / Park Muzakowski or the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen.
More intensive efforts to protect natural properties
In 2004, a research study commissioned by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) was carried out to identify natural properties which might potentially be suitable for nomination as UNESCO World Heritage in Germany. The natural properties identified through the study were screened to determine their prospects of success in the event of nomination. The study concluded that “serial nominations” have far greater prospects of success. Serial nominations comprise several individual component parts, and can be prepared by several countries working together. This option is particularly important for natural properties in Europe. Due to intensive settlement, many natural habitats here are highly fragmented and their global significance is only apparent when viewed in terms of Europe as a whole. In the comparative study, numerous natural properties were evaluated. The study identified Germany’s beech forests as natural assets of “outstanding universal value”, primarily due to the diversity of the distribution forms and types of beech forests. German beech forests are especially important in that respect, and so the success prospects of a nomination of German beech forests as part of a serial European nomination were examined in more detail in a feasibility study carried out in 2006. As a result, in February 2007, five German beech forest areas were proposed for future nomination to the World Heritage List. The planned German beech forest cluster should be regarded as enhancing the “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians” Natural World Heritage property.
The 33 UNESCO World Heritage Properties in Germany:
Aachen Cathedral (date of inscription: 1978)
Speyer Cathedral (1981)
Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square (1981)
Pilgrimage Church of Wies (1983)
Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Brühl (1984)
St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church at Hildesheim (1985)
Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier (1986)
Hanseatic City of Lübeck (1987)
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (1990)
Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch (1991)
Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of Goslar (1992)
Town of Bamberg (1993)
Maulbronn Monastery Complex (1993)
Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg (1994)
Völklingen Ironworks (1994)
Messel Pit Fossil Site (1995)
Cologne Cathedral (1996)
Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar and Dessau (1996)
Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg (1996)
Classical Weimar (1998)
Wartburg Castle (1999)
Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin (1999)
Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz (2000)
Monastic Island of Reichenau (2000)
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen (2001)
Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar (2002)
Upper Middle Rhine Valley (2002)
Dresden Elbe Valley (2004)
Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen (2004)
Muskauer Park / Park Muzakowski (2004)
Frontiers of the Roman Empire: the Upper German-Raetian Border Wall (»Limes«) (2005)
Old town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof (2006)
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates (2008)