Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps

Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The series of 111 out of the 937 known archaeological pile-dwelling sites in six countries around the Alpine and sub-alpine regions of Europe is composed of the remains of prehistoric settlements dating from 5,000 to 500 BC which are situated under water, on lake shores, along rivers or in wetlands. …

Read more

Fagus Factory in Alfeld

Fagus Factory in Alfeld UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Fagus Factory in Alfeld—located in Northern Germany near Hildesheim—is one of the most unique world heritage sites I’ve ever visited. Despite the fact that it’s an actual working factory held in private hands, I wouldn’t really classify it as an industrial site, but rather an as architectural site. I’ve read several reviews of the …

Read more

St Mary’s Cathedral and St Michael’s Church at Hildesheim

St Mary’s Cathedral and St Michael’s Church at Hildesheim

From the World Heritage inscription: St Michael’s Church has exerted great influence on developments in architecture. The complex bears exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared. These two edifices and their artistic treasures give a better overall and more immediate understanding than any other decoration in Romanesque churches in the Christian West. The ancient …

Read more

Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System

Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System

From the World Heritage inscription: Rammelsberg-Goslar is the largest and longest-lived mining and metallurgical complex in the central European metal-producing region whose role was paramount in the economy of Europe for many centuries. It is a very characteristic form of an urban-industrial ensemble which has its most complete and best-preserved expression in Europe at Rammelsberg-Goslar. …

Read more

The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik

The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The Cathedral of Šibenik is the fruitful outcome of considerable interchanges of influences between the three culturally different regions of northern Italy, Dalmatia and Tuscany in the 15th and 16th centuries. These interchanges created the conditions for unique and outstanding solutions to the technical and structural problems of constructing the …

Read more

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz is an outstanding example of the application of the philosophical principles of the Age of the Enlightenment to the design of a landscape that integrates art, education, and economy in a harmonious whole. The first essays in landscape design began with the foundation of Oranienbaum, …

Read more

Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian

Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: The importance of Diocletian’s Palace far transcends local significance because of its level of preservation and the buildings of succeeding historical periods, starting in the Roman period, which form the very tissue of old Split. The palace is one of the most famous and integral architectural and cultural buildings on …

Read more

Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta

Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription: Ferrara is an outstanding planned Renaissance city which has retained its urban fabric virtually intact. The developments in town planning expressed in Ferrara were to have a profound influence on the development of urban design throughout the succeeding centuries. The brilliant Este court attracted a constellation of artists, poets, and …

Read more

18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex

18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex

From the World Heritage inscription for the 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex: The monumental complex at Caserta, while cast in the same mold as other 18th-century royal establishments, is exceptional for the broad sweep of its design, incorporating an imposing palace and park, …

Read more