UNESCO-World Heritage
Outstanding Universal Value
A quick glance at the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany says a lot about the country's history. UNESCO proclaimed a large number of Historic Highlights of Germany´s monuments, parks and palaces to be a World Heritage Site. 2,000 years of European cultural history have certainly left their mark on our cities: You will find many unique sites of natural and cultural interest situated so closely together.A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, Trier unites Germany´s finest Roman monuments: the Porta Nigra, "Dom und Liebfrauenkirche" (Cathedral and Church of our Lady), "Konstantin Basilika" (Constantine Basilica), three Roman Baths, the Amphitheater and the "Römerbrücke" (Roman Bridge).
The "Mittelrheintal" (Middle Rhine Valley) stretches between Koblenz and Bingen. The rocky Rhine Valley was already a major traffic route in Roman times. UNESCO has acknowledged the great diversity and beauty of this valley as a "cultural landscape" full off medieval castles, historic tow and vineyards.
Potsdam, the former residence of the Prussian kings, takes you back to the days of baroque splendor with its magnificent 17 palaces and palatial buildings as well as parks and gardens which are part of UNESCO's World Heritage. Würzburg's Residenz (Residence), designed by Balthasar Neumann, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an immensely popular attraction. The Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo frescoed the "Treppenhaus" (entrance staircase) with a massive ceiling fresco at 7287 square feet (677 m2).
The city of Erfurt proposed the inclusion of its Old Synagogue (1094). The structure was only rediscovered in the Old Town in the 1990s and it is thought to be the oldest intact synagogue in Central Europe. Furthermore, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate put forward the so-called ShUM cities (e.g. the city of Mainz), the center of German Jewish life in medieval times.
