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WORLD HERITAGE SITES OF SWITZERLAND

EVELINA RIOUKHINA, UNECE

History. The idea of creating an international movement for protecting heritage emerged after World War I. The main event that aroused particular international concern dates back to 1959. It was the decision to build the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which would have flooded the valley containing the Abu Simbel temples, a treasure of ancient Egyptian civilization. After an appeal from the governments of Egypt and Sudan, UNESCO launched an international safeguarding campaign. The Abu Simbel and Philae temples were dismantled, moved to dry ground and reassembled. The campaign cost about US$80 million, half of which was donated by some 50 countries, showing the importance of solidarity and nations’ shared responsibility in conserving outstanding cultural sites. Its success led to other safeguarding campaigns, such as saving Venice and its Lagoon (Italy), the archaeological ruins at Moenjodaro (Pakistan) and restoring the Borobodur Temple Compounds (Indonesia).

Linking the protection of cultural and natural heritage. The idea of combining conservation of cultural sites with those of nature comes from the United States of America. A White House conference in Washington, D.C., in 1965 called for a “World Heritage Trust” that would stimulate international cooperation to protect “the world’s superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the entire world citizenry”. In 1968, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) developed similar proposals for its members. These proposals were presented to the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm. Eventually, a single text was agreed upon by all parties concerned. The Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. By regarding heritage as both cultural and natural, the Convention reminds us of the ways in which people interact with nature, and of the fundamental need to preserve the balance between the two.

Nomination. A country must first take an inventory of all its significant cultural and natural properties. This is called the Tentative
List. Next, it can select a property off this list to make into a Nomination File. At this point, the file is independently evaluated by two organizations: The International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. These bodies can then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. The Committee meets once per year to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List. Nominated sites must be of “outstanding universal value” and meet at least one of the selection criteria.

Selection criteria. Until the end of 2004 there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so that there is only one set of ten criteria.

1. “to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius”;
2. “to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design”;
3. “to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared”;
4. “to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history”;
5. “to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change”;
6. “to be directly or tangible associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance (the Committee considers that this criterion should preferable be used in conjunction with other criteria)”;
7. “to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance”;
8. “to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features”;
9. “to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals”;
10. “to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation”.

The World Heritage List includes 830 properties forming parts of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include 644 cultural, 162 natural and 24 mixed properties in 138
States Parties.

Switzerland has 6 sites already inscribed in the World Heritage list and seven sites are proposed in the Tentative List (last submission
on 29 November 2005). Six World heritage sites are described below in this article:

• Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair (1983)
• Convent of St. Gall (1983)
• Old City of Berne (1983)
• Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market-Town of Bellinzone (2000)
• Monte San Giorgio (2003)
• Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn (2001)

Two of the above sites are of natural character. These are Jungfrau-Aletch Gletscher-Bietschhorn and Monte San Giorgia. Four other sites are the cultural sites.

CULTURAL WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SWITZERLAND:

I) Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair (1983)
Brief description. The Convent of Müstair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, is a good example of Christian monastic renovation during the Carolingian period. It has Switzerland’s greatest series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes.

II) Convent of St. Gall (1983)
Brief description. The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliestknown architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the conventual
area was rebuilt in Baroque style. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity.

III) Old City of Berne (1983)
Brief description. Founded in the 12th century on a hill site surrounded by the Aare river, Berne developed over the centuries in line with a an exceptionally coherent planning concept. The buildings in the Old City, dating from a variety of periods, include 15th-century arcades and 16th-century fountains. Most of the medieval town was restored in the 18th century but it has retained its original character.

IV) Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market-Town of Bellinzone (2000)
Brief description. The Bellinzone site consists of a group of fortifications grouped around the castle of Castelgrande, which stands on a rocky peak looking out over the entire Ticino valley. Running from the castle, a series of fortified walls protect the ancient town and block the passage through the valley. A second castle (Montebello) forms an integral part of the fortifications, while a third but separate castle (Sasso Corbaro) was built on an isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other fortifications. The fortified ensemble of Bellinzone is an outstanding example of a late medieval defensive structure guarding a key strategic Alpine pass.

Natural World Heritage sites in Switzerland:

V) Monte San Giorgio
The pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain (1,096 m above sea level), to the south of Lake Lugano in Canton Ticino is regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period (245–230 million years ago). The sequence records life in a tropical lagoon environment, sheltered and partially separated from the open sea by an offshore reef. Diverse marine life flourished within this lagoon, including reptiles, fish, bivalves, ammonites, echinoderms and crustaceans. Because the lagoon was near to land, the fossil remains also include some land-based fossils including reptiles, insects and plants. The result is a fossil resource of great richness. Monte San Giorgio is the single best known record of marine life in the Triassic period, and records important remains of life on land as well. The site has produced diverse and numerous fossils, many of which show exceptional completeness and detailed preservation. The long history of study of the site, and the disciplined management of the resource have created a well documented and catalogued body of specimens of exceptional quality, and are the basis for a rich associated geological literature. As a result Monte San Giorgio provides the principal point of reference, relevant to future discoveries of marine Triassic remains throughout the world.

VI) Jungfrau and Aletsch Gletcher
Brief description. This is the most glaciated part of the Alps, containing Europe’s largest glacier and a range of classic glacial features such as U-shaped valleys, cirques, horn peaks and moraines. It provides an outstanding geological record of the uplift and compression that formed the High Alps. The diversity of flora and wildlife is represented in a range of Alpine and sub-Alpine habitats and plant colonization in the wake of retreating glaciers provides an outstanding example of plant succession. The impressive vista of the North Wall of the High Alps, centred on the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks, has played an important role in European art and literature.
To note here that Switzerland deposed a dossier at the World Heritage Centre for an extension of the site “Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschorn” on 2006. The nomination dossier was evaluated by IUCN and should be presented to the World Heritage Committee in July 2007. Please read more details and look at the photos by my colleague from the Editorial Board Mr. André Rotach who visited this sited specially for UNSpecial.

(With all my thanks to the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO, namely Ms. Céline Fuchs, Western and Northern Europe, Europe and North America Section, and to the offices of Bernese Tourism, Müstair, St.Gallen, Ticino and Bellinzona for providing me all photos and further documentation used in this article).