Unesco has named the three German health resorts Baden-Baden, Bad Ems and Bad Kissingen as new world heritage sites. The responsible committee of the UN Organization for Education, Science, Culture and Communication (Unesco) made the decision on Saturday at its current meeting in Fuzhou, China. The Unesco designated Baden-Baden, Bad Ems and Bad Kissingen, together with eight other European health resorts, as “Great Baths of Europe” as World Heritage. The Unesco committee made the decision at its 44th meeting. Only cultural and natural sites of outstanding universal value are awarded the coveted title.
The “Great Baths of Europe” are health resorts that gained international importance from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. Natural thermal waters are the basis of a tradition of European bathing culture that spans epochs. The eleven spa towns that received the World Heritage title also include Spa (Belgium), Vichy (France), Bath (United Kingdom) and Karlsbad, Franzensbad and Marienbad from the Czech Republic.
In the cityscape, the health resorts stand out to this day with buildings geared towards medical, therapeutic and social functions.
“In these sophisticated places of health care, leisure and socializing, architectural prototypes and an urban planning typology emerged for which there was no previous parallel,” said Baden-Baden about the nomination.
1100 world heritage sites in 167 countries
The World Heritage Committee will meet online and on site until July 31st. It is made up of 21 elected signatory states to the World Heritage Convention. As a rule, it decides annually on the registration of new cultural and natural sites in the World Heritage List and deals with the condition of the registered sites. Because of the pandemic, the conference was postponed last year. There are more than 1,100 cultural and natural sites in 167 countries on the World Heritage List. 51 of them are considered threatened. Germany now has 47 world heritage sites.
The agenda includes a total of five applications with German participation: This Saturday also includes the Mathildenhöhe artists' colony in Darmstadt and on Sunday the Jewish cultural heritage in Mainz, Speyer and Worms and the Danube Limes as part of the Roman border. On Tuesday it should be about the Lower Germanic Limes.