Bavarian fairy tale castles and French Carnac Megaliths among new UNESCO World Heritage sites
UNESCO has added several new sites to the global heritage list after examining applications that required in -depth research and presentation processes.
Among them, several European sites, including the famous fairy chateaux of the Fairy of the King of Bavaria Ludwig II, the megalithic carnac stones in the northwest of France and the minoan palatal centers on the Greek island of Crete.
Fairy tales castles
During its meeting in Paris, the World Heritage Commission decided to raise the German castle of Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee, Linderhof and the Royal House of Schachen to the status of World Heritage.
The magnificent castles of Haute Bavaria have attracted many tourists for over 140 years. The buildings of King Ludwig II (1845-1886) attracted more than 1.7 million visitors last year, including many international customers, in particular the United States and Asian countries.
“The inclusion of the palaces on the World Heritage List is an exceptional honor for these impressive places,” said UNESCO German Commission, Maria Böhmer. “They are all architectural masterpieces and testify to the artistic imagination, but also of the eccentricity of the fairytale king.”
Germany previously had 54 UNESCO World Heritage sites – including the old cities of Stelsund and Wismar, Cologne Cathedral, the Wadden Sea and the Roman border fortifications.
Old structures
The megaliths of French carnac and the Greek minoan mining centers are both structures of antiquity.
Carnac stones are a dense collection of megalithic sites near the southern coast of Brittany, dating from 4,500 to 3300 BCE.
The minoan palatial centers, including Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Zominthos and Kydonia, were key centers of the Minoan Civilization of the Bronze Age, which prospered between 2800 and 1100 BCE.
The registration of the World Heritage recognizes the historical meaning of the sites, the architectural integrity and the existence of a complete framework for protection and management.
Cultural prestige
Although the world heritage title does not provide any financial support, it guarantees international attention and cultural prestige.
World heritage status is also accompanied by UNESCO requirements which are intended to benefit the local population in particular, which are overwhelmed by the influx of tourists. Among other things, the organization needs a concept for effective management of visitors in order to better control mass tourism.
The consequences of contempt for UNESCO guidelines were demonstrated in 2009 in the Elbe de Dresden valley, where a new bridge led to the withdrawal of the status of world heritage. The construction of the so-called WaldschöschenbrĂĽcke bridge was considered to be harmful to the “exceptional universal value” of the cultural landscape. It was the first time that UNESCO has eliminated a European World Heritage Site on the list.
Italy has 60 sites listed, the greatest number of all countries. Certain notable examples include the historic centers of Rome, Florence and Naples, the archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculanum, and the Amalfi coast.
The other sites that have been added to the World Heritage List this week include three locations used by the Cambodia Red Khmer Brutal Diet as torture and execution sites 50 years ago.
Registration coincided with the 50th anniversary of the rise of power by the Communist Government Khmer Rouge, which caused the death of around 1.7 million Cambodians by famine, torture and mass executions for a reign of four years from 1975 to 1979.
The lists of UNESCO World Heritage Lists are considered important to humanity and include the large wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India and the Archaeological Complex of Angkor of Cambodia.
