India, UNESCO site: Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka;

Thank you Sita!

Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 2003

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the central Indian plateau. Within massive sandstone outcrops, above comparatively dense forest, are five clusters of natural rock shelters, displaying paintings that appear to date from the Mesolithic Period right through to the historical period. The cultural traditions of the inhabitants of the twenty-one villages adjacent to the site bear a strong resemblance to those represented in the rock paintings.

Source: unesco.org

Finland, UNESCO site: Fortress of Suomenlinna;

Thank Shaun!

Fortress of Suomenlinna

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 1991

Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) is a sea fortress, which was built gradually from 1748 onwards on a group of islands belonging to the district of Helsinki. The work was supervised by the Swedish Admiral Augustin Eherensvärd (1710-1772), who adapted Vauban’s theories to the very special geographical features of the region. The landscape and the architecture of the fortress have been shaped by several historic events. It has served to defend three different sovereign states over the years: the Kingdom of Sweden, the Russian Empire and most recently the Republic of Finland.

Covering an area of 210 ha and consisting of 200 buildings and 6 km of defensive walls, the fortress stretches over six separate islands. The original fortress was built using local rock and fortified with a system of bastions over varied terrain. The purpose of the fortress was originally to defend the Kingdom of Sweden against the Russian Empire and to serve as a fortified army base, complete with a dry dock. Sandbanks, barracks and various other buildings were added during the 19th-century Russian period. The defensive system was adapted to match the requirements of a modern fortress and developed in the 19th century using contemporary fortification equipment.

After Finland gained independence in 1917, the fortress was renamed Suomenlinna (or Fortress of Finland) and served as a garrison and a harbour. The military role of the fortress declined after World War II, and in 1973 the area was converted for civilian purposes. Since then, buildings have been renovated to serve as apartments as well as workspaces, to house private and public services, and for cultural purposes.

Today, Suomenlinna is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Finland and constitutes a district of Helsinki with 850 inhabitants.

Criterion (iv): In the history of military architecture, the Fortress of Suomenlinna is an outstanding example of general fortification principles of the 17th and 18th centuries, notably the bastion system, and also showcases individual characteristics..

Source: unesco.org

Germany, UNESCO site:Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen;

Than you Melaine!

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 2001

The Zollverein XII Coal Mine Industrial Complex is an important example of a European primary industry of great economic significance in the 19th and 20th centuries. It consists of the complete installations of a historical coal-mining site: the pits, coking plants, railway lines, pit heaps, miner’s housing and consumer and welfare facilities. The mine is especially noteworthy of the high architectural quality of its buildings of the Modern Movement.

Zollverein XII was created at the end of a phase of political and economic upheaval and change in Germany, which was represented aesthetically in the transition from Expressionism to Cubism and Functionalism. At the same time, Zollverein XII embodies this short economic boom between the two World Wars, which has gone down in history as the “Roaring Twenties.” Zollverein is also, and by no means least, a monument of industrial history reflecting an era, in which, for the first time, globalisation and the worldwide interdependence of economic factors played a vital part.

The architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kemmer developed Zollverein XII in the graphic language of the Bauhaus as a group of buildings which combined form and function in a masterly way.

Criterion (ii): The Zollverein XII Coal Mine Industrial Complex is an exceptional industrial monument by virtue of the fact that its buildings are outstanding examples of the application of the design concepts of the Modern Movement in architecture in a wholly industrial context.

Criterion (iii): The technological and other structures of Zollverein XII are representative of a crucial period in the development of traditional heavy industries in Europe, which were reinforced through the parallel development and application of Modern Movement architectural designs of outstanding quality. 

Source: unesco.org

Germany, UNESCO site: Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier;

Many thanks Dini!

Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 1986

Trier, which is located on the Moselle river in the West of Germany, was a Roman colony from the 1st century A.D. and then a great trading centre in the beginning of the next century. It became one of the capitals of the Tetrarchy at the end of the 3rd century, when it was known as the 'second Rome'. The number and quality of the surviving monuments are an outstanding testimony to Roman civilization.

There is no place north of the Alps where so many important Roman buildings and such a concentration of traces of Roman settlement have been preserved as in Trier, the “Rome of the North”. In late classical times, Trier was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire; it was the seat of the prefects of Gaul, Germania, Britannia and Hispania and after the imperial reforms of the Emperor Diocletian was the seat of the vice-emperor (Caesar) of the Western Empire.

While the structures built during the first and second centuries (the Moselle Bridge, the Barbara Baths, the Porta Nigra and the lgel Column) illustrate the richness of the commercial city, from which the garrison towns and fortresses on the Rhine were supplied, the monumental buildings from the reign of Constantine (Imperial Baths, Aula Palatina, Cathedral) are a visible expression of the immensity of imperial power and the claim to world domination made from the West of the Empire for the last time before the eclipse of the classical era (this claim was taken over in the East by the new capital of the Empire,  Constantinople, which thereby superseded Trier as well as Rome).

Of the buildings preserved from classical times, at least two of those described above are unparalleled. The Porta Nigra, with its state of preservation and its architectural layout (the combination of a fortification with the features of palace architecture) is a unique construction that is unlike any of the other preserved Roman city gates. Its development during the Middle Ages into a (likewise very unusual) double church also makes it a symbol of Western history. The monumental brick structure of the Basilica, with its lapidary form and the vast dimensions of its interior (the largest known interior from classical times) was the embodiment of the seat (sedes imperii) and the power of the Roman Empire.

One of the oldest church buildings in the Western world, the Cathedral has been a witness to the Christian faith since Constantine made Christianity a tolerated and supported religion in his Empire. Its architectural design unites elements of all the periods of classical, medieval and modern times, but has always been marked by the monumental concept that lies at its origins. The series of archbishops’ tombs covers with few interruptions the entire period from the 12th to the late 18th century. The Romanesque parclose, the renaissance pulpit and some of the Baroque marble altars belong to the major works of sculpture of their respective periods.

The Church of Our Lady is the earliest church built in French High Gothic style outside France. Its purity of style (it was completed in only 30 years) and the undeviating implementation of the architect’s plan for a basilica-shaped graduated central area, for which there were partial models, though no entire prototype, in France probably make it the most perfect example of the centralized construction concept in Gothic style.$

Criterion (i): The Porta Nigra, which is an enormous fortified gate built of large stones, flanked by two semi-circular four-storey towers,  is a unique achievement of 2nd century Roman architecture. The remains of the choir and the cloister of the two-level church built within its walls by Archbishop Poppo between 1034 and 1042 further enhance the monument.

Criterion (iii): Trier bears exceptional testimony to Roman civilisation due to the density and the quality of the monuments preserved: the bridge, the remains of the fortified wall, thermae, amphitheatre, storehouses etc. Funeral art, as demonstrated by the nomination of the Igel Column, and the craftsmanship of potters, glassworkers and minters flourished particularly.

Criterion (iv): Trier, along with Istanbul, is the example of a large Roman capital after the division of the Empire. The remains of the imperial palace, in addition to the Aula Palatina and the imperial thermae (the largest of the Roman Empire after those of Diocletian and Caracalla in Rome) are impressive in their enormity. Under the north basilica (now the Cathedral), the decoration of a painted ceiling, where members of the imperial family (most probably Helena and Fausta) appear to be identifiable, also bears testimony to the Aulic character of the architecture.

Criterion (vi): Trier is directly and tangibly associated with one of the major events of human history, Constantine's march against Maxence in 312, which was a prelude to the Edict of Milan (313) and which meant the recognition of Christianity..

Source: unesco.org

Germany, UNESCO site: Wadden sea,

Thank Svenja!

Wadden Sea

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 2009

The Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world. The site covers the Dutch Wadden Sea Conservation Area, the German Wadden Sea National Parks of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, and most of the Danish Wadden Sea maritime conservation area. It is a large, temperate, relatively flat coastal wetland environment, formed by the intricate interactions between physical and biological factors that have given rise to a multitude of transitional habitats with tidal channels, sandy shoals, sea-grass meadows, mussel beds, sandbars, mudflats, salt marshes, estuaries, beaches and dunes. The area is home to numerous plant and animal species, including marine mammals such as the harbour seal, grey seal and harbour porpoise. Wadden Sea is one of the last remaining large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function largely undisturbed..

Source: unesco.org

China, UNESCO site: Longmen Grottoes;

Thank you Chenzhu! I really want to visit this site at least once. Hope it is not a far day.

Longmen Grottoes

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 2000

The Longmen Grottoes, located on bothsides of the Yi River to the south of the ancient capital of Luoyang, Henan province, comprise more than 2,300 caves and niches carved into the steep limestone cliffs over a 1km long stretch. These contain almost 110,000 Buddhist stone statues, more than 60 stupas and 2,800 inscriptions carved on steles. Luoyang was the capital during the late Northern Wei Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, and the most intensive period of carving dates from the end of the 5th century to the mid-8th century. The earliest caves to be carved in the late 5th and early 6th centuries in the West Hill cliffs include Guyangdong and the Three Binyang Caves, all containing large Buddha figures. Yaofangdong Cave contains 140 inscription recording treatments for various diseases and illnesses. Work on the sculpture in this cave continued over a 150 year period, illustrating changes in artistic style. The sculptural styles discovered in the Buddhist caves of the Tang Dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, particularly the giant sculptures in the Fengxiansi Cave are the most fully representative examples of the Royal Cave Temples’ art, which has been imitated by artists from various regions. The two sculptural art styles, the earlier “Central China Style” and the later “Great Tang Style” had great influence within the country and throughout the world, and have made important contributions to the development of the sculptural arts in other Asian countries.

Criterion (i) : The sculptures of the Longmen Grottoes are an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity.

Criterion (ii) : The Longmen Grottoes illustrate the perfection of a long-established art form which was to play a highly significant role in the cultural evolution in this region of Asia.

Criterion (iii) : The high cultural level and sophisticated society of Tang Dynasty China are encapsulated in the exceptional stone carvings of the Longmen Grottoes.

Source: unesco.org

Finland, UNESCO site: Verla Groundwood and Board Mill;

Thank you Sini!

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill

UNESCO site
Date of Insscription: 1996

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill, located in the northern part of the Kymi River Valley in southeast Finland, consists of the Mill, the associated residential area and the power plants. The mill buildings and the workers' houses mostly date from the 1890s and from the beginning of the 20th century. The property is a very well preserved example of a forest industry settlement of the late 19th century. Similar communities were established in coniferous forest zones in northern Europe and in North America, where wood as a raw material and water as a source of energy were easily at hand.

The first groundwood mill in Verla was founded in 1872 and the board mill began operations ten years later. The existing buildings, which are architecturally harmonious, date back to the turn of the 20th century. The mill itself ceased to operate in 1964, and all the machines and items related to production were left in the mill as they were when the production ceased. The buildings and the machines were carefully conserved and turned into a museum, and the Verla Mill Museum was officially opened in 1972.

The property itself consists of approximately 50 buildings in an area of 23 ha. The Verlankoski Rapids separate the production area from the residential area. On the rapids, there are three water power plants from three different decades, the newest one dating from the 1990s. The mill owner’s residence and a park from the late 19th century dominate the village. The sheer rock face above the rapids bears a prehistoric rock painting, representing fishing and hunting.

Criterion (iv): The Verla Groundwood and Board Mill and its associated habitation are an outstanding and remarkably well preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlement associated with pulp, paper, and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries, of which only a handful survives to the present day.

Source: unesco.org