UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Cross-regional sites
The next sites in our series introducing German UNESCO World Heritage Sites, are four sites that cross federal state or even national borders. These are: Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau, Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests and Wadden Sea.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire (1987)
The ‘Roman Limes’ in Germany is part of the border line of the Roman Empire. Linked with its counterparts, Hadrian’s Wall and Antonine Wall, it stretched over a combined length of 5,000 km, 550 of which in Germany, from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.
The remains in Germany, mostly forts, fortlets, physical barriers, linked infrastructure and civilian architecture, bear testimony to life in the late 1st to the mid-3rd century AD. Despites its militaristic appearance, the Limes also defined economic and cultural limits. Whilst regional cultural lines were not always as clear-cut, it did represent a cultural divide between the Romanised world and the non-Romanised Germanic peoples. UNESCO points out that in large parts it was an arbitrary straight line, which did not take account of the topographical circumstances. Therefore, it is an excellent demonstration of the Roman precision in surveying.
The Limes has been UNESCO World Heritage since 1987 but was extended in 2005 and 2008.
Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau (1996)
Between 1919 and 1933 the Bauhaus movement, based first in Weimar and then in Dessau, revolutionised architectural and aesthetic thinking and practice in the 20th century. It has become inseparable from its pioneer Walter Gropius.
The philosophical basis of Bauhaus design is the desire to develop a modern architecture using the new materials of the time, such as reinforced concrete, and construction methods, including skeleton construction, whilst upholding a pragmatic, functional, and rational design.
UNESCO emphasises that its creation are important monuments not only for art and culture, but also for the historic ideas of the 20th century due to the school’s strive to create “modernity with a human face“, seeking to utilise both technical and intellectual resources in a sustainable way to create a living environment worthy of human aspirations..
First inscribed in 1996, the World Heritage site comprised buildings located in Weimar and Dessau. In 2017, UNESCO further included the Houses the ADGB Trade Union School in Bernau.
Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests (2007)
This World Heritage site not only crosses Federal State boundaries within Germany but stretches across twelve European countries. Since the end of the last Ice Age, European Beech spread from a few isolated refuge areas in the Alps, Carpathians, Dinarides, Mediterranean and Pyrenees over a short period of a few thousand years in a process that is still ongoing. The successful expansion across a whole continent is related to the tree’s adaptability and tolerance of different climatic, geographical and physical conditions.
In Germany, the site includes comprises Grumsin Forst in Brandenburg, Kellerwald-Edersee in Hessen, Jasmund National Park and Beech Forest Serrahn in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as Hainich National Park in Thuringia.
UNESCO first announced the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests as UNESCO World Heritage in 2007 and expanded the geographical scope in 2011 and 2017.
Wadden Sea (2009)
Comprising a total of 1,143,403 hectares, the Wadden Sea is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world, with natural processes undisturbed throughout most of the area. It encompasses numerous transitional zones between land, the sea and freshwater environment, and is rich in species specially adapted to the demanding environmental conditions. UNESCO considers the Wadden Sea one of the most important areas for migratory birds in the world, and is connected to a network of other key sites for migratory birds with up to 6.1 million birds present simultaneously during peak times, and an average of 10–12 million pass through it each year.
It was first awarded the status of a UNESCO World Heritage in 2009 with expansion including additional areas in 2011 and 2014.
