EN 
DE 
Joint application by Hesse and Baden-Württemberg successful
Wiesbaden/Glauburg. The early Celtic princely sites in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg have been successful in the national pre-selection process for UNESCO World Heritage: Glauberg, together with Heuneburg Castle and Mont Lassois in Burgundy, France, will be included on the German tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage from 2024. This was decided by the responsible ministers of the federal states at a special meeting on Monday. The early Celtic princely seats are a joint proposal from Baden-Württemberg and Hesse with the participation of France.
Outstanding network
"The Heuneburg and the Glauberg are part of an outstanding network of early Celtic princely seats. Both are among the most important terrain monuments of Celtic history and were economic and cultural centres of their time. Their city-like structures, huge fortifications and large burial mounds with richly furnished ceremonial tombs still impress us today," explain the Hessian Minister for Science and Art, Angela Dorn, and the Baden-Württemberg Minister for Regional Development and Housing, Nicole Razavi.
“I would like to thank all those involved in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, whose joint commitment made it possible for the application to be included on the national tentative list,” added Minister Dorn"The decision underlines the cultural-historical significance of the Glauberg, which provides a fascinating insight into the culture of the Iron Age and especially into the close exchange between the early Celtic cultures in Europe and with the Mediterranean cultures."
“I am very pleased that our joint proposal convinced the expert jury,” adds Minister Razavi "This is a first important step for the Heuneburg on its way to becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We would like to thank our cooperation partners for their good cooperation in the pre-selection process and look forward to continuing our journey together."
The site proposed for the national pre-selection procedure consists of the sub-sites Glauberg (Hesse, Germany), Heuneburg (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) and Mont Lassois (Burgundy, France), three exceptional examples of early Celtic centres of power in Central and Western Europe north-west of the Alps. Chronologically, they can be categorised in the Early Iron Age of Central Europe. This period spans the 7th to 4th centuries BC and is also known as the "Early Celtic" period. These first city-like centres with monumental settlement and burial architecture, which are often summarised in research under the term "princely seats", represent extraordinary evidence of early Celtic civilisation and are the result of an intensive exchange of ideas, techniques and goods over great distances with large parts of Europe, especially with the cultures of Central and Western Europe and the Mediterranean region. They are also the result of centralisation processes that were set in motion by the concentration of political power and economic wealth of a privileged social group in the early Celtic "princely seats" of Central and Western Europe.
How does the procedure work?
In 2024, the existing German Tentative List for the UNESCO World Heritage List is to be updated. An important point in the selection process was that the sites could fill thematic gaps in the World Heritage List. It will be several years before UNESCO decides whether sites will actually be included: Nominations must be on the national Tentative List for at least one year before they can be submitted to UNESCO as World Heritage applications. This is followed by a prescribed procedure that regularly takes several years. Every year, Germany can submit a further cultural heritage site from its list to UNESCO for inscription on the World Heritage List.
In Hesse, responsibility for the application process for the World Heritage List lies with the Minister of Science and Art as the state's highest monument protection authority. The Ministry oversees the applications together with the Hesse State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (LfDH) and the Celtic World at Glauberg as part of the Archaeological State Museum of Hesse. The President of the LfDH, Prof. Dr Markus Harzenetter, is also the state's World Heritage Commissioner and coordinates the Hessian World Heritage Sites.
Hesse currently preserves seven world cultural and natural heritage sites:
- The Lorsch Monastery
- The Messel Pit
- The Upper Middle Rhine Valley
- The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes
- The ancient beech forests of Germany
- The Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
- The Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt
Photo: © kunst.hessen.de