Germany receives two new world heritage sites. For the first time, Unesco honored Jewish cultural assets in Germany, with the coveted award going to the so-called Schum sites in Mainz, Worms and Speyer as the cradle of European Jewry. The Lower Germanic Limes as part of the border of the ancient Roman Empire has also been newly classified as World Heritage. The responsible committee of the UN Organization for Education, Science and Culture (Unesco) surprisingly made the decisions on Tuesday at its meeting in Fuzhou, China.
Only cultural and natural sites of “outstanding universal value” are designated as world heritage. The Schum sites Mainz, Worms and Speyer in Rhineland-Palatinate are places of the Jewish Middle Ages and are also called “Jerusalem on the Rhine”. Schum is an abbreviation from the medieval Hebrew first letters of the cities.
The “wet Limes” along the Rhine
After the discussion about the Danube Limes as part of the border of the Roman Empire had to be transferred to a working group the day before for procedural reasons, the award of the Lower German Limes went smoothly. Both sections have been nominated individually as part of the serial World Heritage “Frontiers of the Roman Empire”. The 400-kilometer-long Lower Germanic Limes with its forts and legionary camps runs along the Rhine. One speaks there of the “wet Limes”.
The inclusion of the Lower Germanic Limes in the world cultural heritage is intended to close a gap between two already protected sections – the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes as well as Hadrian’s Wall and another in Great Britain. A decision on the Danube Limes can possibly be expected on Friday. Since Hungary had withdrawn from the joint application with Germany, Austria and Slovakia at short notice, Unesco was faced with an “unprecedented case”.