What is World Heritage?
What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located.
But what is it exactly World Heritage? And what's the idea behind it?
Watch the World Heritage explained - animated short about the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
Video provided by the Austrian Commission for UNESCO.
Outstanding Universal Value (OUV):
Cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity. As such, the permanent protection of this heritage is of the highest importance to the international community as a whole.
Bryggen in Bergen:
Based on the memory of a lost trading culture, the World Heritage Site Bryggen was inscribed in 1979 and is number 59 on the list.
The area only includes the wharfs themselves, with Finnegården and the cabbage gardens at the back towards Øvregaten, as well as the Hanseatic Museum, which was inscribed at a later time.
However, the wharf structures are part of the landscape space around Vågen and are part of the historical urban structure. Both the experience and the historical understanding of Bryggen depend on areas and elements outside the boundary line of the World Heritage area.
World heritage area:
The world Heritage area of Bryggen is of great importance in terms of the history and development of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. According to criterion iii of the UNESCO Convention which is “to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared”.
Bryggen bears the traces of social organization and illustrates the use of space in a quarter of Hanseatic merchants that dates back to the 14th century. It is a type of northern “fondaco”, unequalled in the world, where the structures have remained within the cityscape and perpetuate the memory of one of the oldest large trading ports of Northern Europe.
Buffer zone:
Buffer zones are clearly delineated area(s) outside a World Heritage property and adjacent to its boundaries which contribute to the protection, conservation, management, integrity, authenticity and sustainability of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property.
From a professional and historical preservation point of view, valuable subareas worthy of preservation in the sense of the UNESCO Convention were not taken into account in 1979 when ICOMOS assessed and defined the world heritage area of Bryggen in Bergen.
The work to create a buffer zone for the pier is underway. The work is under the auspices of the Byantikvaren in Bergen Municipality and is designed to ensure a high level of participation. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Further reading (NB!: external link):
Bryggen - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Contact us:
- World Heritage Coordinator
Hege Agathe Bakke-Alisøy
Call: (+47) 408 03 374
Email: Hege.Bakke-Alisoy@bergen.kommune.no
- Byantikvaren - Agency for Cultural Heritage Managment, City of Bergen
Website: https://www.bergen.kommune.no/omkommunen/avdelinger/byantikvaren
Call: (+47) 555 66 508 - from 9.00 to 15.00.
Email: byantikvaren@bergen.kommune.no
N.B.: Remember to mark your email with "Buffersone" when the inquiry concerns it.