Four new UNESCO world heritage sites for Germany

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee named 25 new World Heritage sites at its recent June 2011 session in Paris, including four new sites in Germany. This takes the total of World Heritage listings in Germany to 36, with few other countries able to boast such a wealth of natural and cultural heritage sites.

The new listings include the Fagus Factory in Alfeld near Hildesheim; five important areas of unspoilt beech forest across the country; prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps that date back to 5,000 BC, and the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park.

Virginia Haddon, the German National Tourist Office’s Sales and Marketing representative in Australia, commented: “Germany already enjoys an excellent reputation as a cultural destination, and this will be further enhanced by these diverse new World Heritage sites.”

The Fagus Factory is an early example of modern industrial architecture, where lasts for the shoe industry are still made. Completed in 1925, the production site of Fagus GmbH was the first large-scale work designed by Walter Gropius, who later became the star architect of the Bauhaus school. Gropius' glass and steel design gave the three-storey building an elegant feeling of lightness that was unusual for factories at the time. Free of supports, the huge, wrap-around corner windows became a hallmark of the Neues Bauen architectural style. The Fagus Factory exemplifies Gropius' revolutionary ideas, and defined a new style which paved the way for modernist architecture.

Five areas of beech forest have also been inscribed on the World Heritage list. These are Grumsin Forest in Brandenburg, Kellerwald-Edersee National Park in Hessen, the Jasmund and Müritz national parks in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hainich National Park in Thuringia. They represent the most important expanses of unspoilt beech forest remaining in Germany.

Also new to the list are the 'Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps', comprising the remains of 111 stilt houses or pile dwelling settlements in six countries in and around the Alps, including 18 in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Nine settlements are located on the shores of Lake Constance in Baden-Württemberg, six are listed in Upper Swabia, and the three in Bavaria are located south of Augsburg and at Lake Starnberg. Together with 93 further pile dwelling sites in France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia, they represent an archaeological legacy that dates back to 5,000 BC.

The final World Heritage addition is the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park. This conservation area spanning 137 square kilometres lies at the mouth of the Elbe near Cuxhaven and also encompasses the islands of Neuwerk, Nigeh?rn and Scharnh?rn. The fragile Wadden Sea ecosystem provides an ideal shelter for many rare species of animals and plants. The German Wadden Sea national parks of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have been on the World Heritage list since 2009.

Source - etravelblackboardasia