Wieliczka Salt Mine

Wieliczka Salt Mine UNESCO World Heritage Site, Poland

From the World Heritage inscription: The salt mines of Cracow exemplify a large industrial establishment, administratively and technically well organized, the continued existence of which has been ensured by the process of adaptation since the Middle Ages. The progressive development of mining processes over the centuries is perfectly illustrated there, in all its stages, owing …

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Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland

Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The wooden churches of southern Little Poland bear exceptional testimony to the tradition of church building from the Middle Ages. They have also been preserved in the context of the vernacular village and landscape setting and related to the liturgical and cult functions of the Roman Catholic Church in a …

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Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe

Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe

From the World Heritage inscription: The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany are a serial property comprising fifteen components. They represent an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests and exhibit the most complete and comprehensive ecological patterns and processes of pure stands of European beech across a …

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Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar

Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: Wismar and Stralsund, leading centres of the Wendish section of the Hanseatic League from the 13th to the 15th centuries and major administrative and defence centres in the Swedish kingdom in the 17th and 18th centuries, contributed to the development and diffusion of brick construction techniques and building types, characteristic …

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Hanseatic City of Lübeck

Hanseatic City of Lubeck UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: Lübeck is the city which, more than any other, exemplifies the power and historic role of the Hanseatic League. Founded in 1143 by Heinrich der Löwe (Henry the Lion) on a small island of the Baltic coast, Lübeck was the former capital and Queen City of the Hanseatic League from …

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Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen

Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The Bremen Town Hall and Roland are an outstanding ensemble representing civic autonomy and market freedom, as developed in the Holy Roman Empire. The town hall represents the medieval Saalgeschossbau-type of hall construction, as well as being an outstanding example of the so-called Weser Renaissance in northern Germany. The Bremen …

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Upper Middle Rhine Valley

Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The strategic location of the dramatic 65km stretch of the Middle Rhine Valley between Bingen, Rüdesheim und Koblenz as a transport artery and the prosperity that this engendered is reflected in its sixty small towns, the extensive terraced vineyards and the ruins of castles that once defended its trade. The …

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Aachen Cathedral

Aachen Cathedral UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the Aachen Cathedral World Heritage inscription: With its columns of Greek and Italian marble, its bronze doors, the largest mosaic of its dome (now destroyed), the Palatine Chapel of Aachen has, from its inception, been perceived as an exceptional artistic creation. It was the first vaulted structure to be constructed north of the Alps …

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