heritage - UNESCO designates Herrnhut, Saxony, as a World Heritage Site
The UNESCO has designated the Saxon small town of Herrnhut as part of the Settlements of the Moravian Church in Herrnhut as a new World Heritage site. The responsible committee of the UN organization for Education, Science, Culture and Communication (UNESCO) made the decision on Friday at its 46th session in New Delhi, India.
"The Settlements of the Moravian Church in Herrnhut stand for cultural and spiritual exchange across borders and continents," said the President of the German UNESCO Commission Maria Boehmer. "They are diverse and thus a symbol of the World Heritage idea."
Unanimous Decision
The decision was made, according to the statements of Saxony's State Chancellor Conrad Clemens, unanimously. "Today is a special day for Herrnhut and Upper Lusatia, on which many people have worked," said the CDU politician, who followed the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting on site.
Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) congratulated Herrnhut for the recognition. He was very pleased, he said in a video message on the X platform. "The people behind this success have achieved a lot. The entire free state benefits from it."
The mayor of Herrnhut, Willem Riecke, also expressed his joy. The World Heritage title strengthens the network of Moravian Church communities and the places behind them, he said to MDR. "This is a great joy and also an great honor for us." The place should now be developed carefully, for example through investments in the preservation of the building substance.
The Bishop of Görlitz, Wolfgang Ipolt, sees in the title also "a beautiful sign" for the living faith of the Moravian Church. "In the midst of our secular and faith-alien environment, an honor is spoken out that has significance far beyond your faith community," wrote he in a statement of the Bishopric Ordinariate.
The UNESCO decision is "a great news for Saxony," said Vice-Minister-President Wolfram Günther (Greens). "In times when many negative news from Saxony come, the decision directs the gaze on the many engaged and active people on site, who build the future of the free state."
Culture and Tourism Minister Barbara Klepsch (CDU) emphasized that the Moravian Church opens up new opportunities for worldwide advertising for visitors for Upper Lausitz and Saxony as the third transnational World Heritage site after the Spa Park in Muskau and the Montanregion Erzgebirge.
Moravian Church founded in Herrnhut in 1722
Herrnhut is the origin of the Evangelical Moravian Church. Refugees from Moravia had founded the place in 1722. The missing "d" in the name of the Moravian Church is due to the language of the time, the term community came later.
As the Moravian Unity spread worldwide, missionaries from Upper Lusatia also carried the building plan for new settlements to other countries. With Christiansfeld in Denmark, one of them was already recognized as a World Heritage site of UNESCO in 2015. Through a transnational extension request, Herrnhut in Upper Lusatia was now added to the list, together with the settlements of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, USA, and Gracehill in Northern Ireland.
Focus in Moravian Church on communal living.
The settlements of the Moravian Church marked a simple, clear architecture with a focus on communal living, working and faith, said Saxony's State Chancellor Clemens. He himself has belonged to the Moravian Church since birth, in which his father is a pastor. "It is an idea of living together that is based on openness, equality and almost familial cohesion," he said in an interview with the German Press Agency. It is "a beautiful sign for Saxony" in a time when we experience a lot of division and polarization.
Centuries-old history
The Moravian Church traces its history back to the Bohemian Brotherhood, which was founded in 1457. The name derives from the Latin designation "Unitas Fratrum" for Bohemian Brothers. They lived as an evangelical minority in the Catholic Kingdom of Bohemia, and their spiritual father was the reformer Jan Hus (1371-1415), who was burned at the stake as a heretic.
Descendants of them came to Saxony in the 18th century, where Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) provided them with land for a new beginning in the Upper Lusatia region. Exactly on June 17, 1722, the carpenter Christian David felled the first tree to build the site under the "Lord's Protection."
In the Federal Republic, there are more than 50 World Heritage Sites. And it is expected that a decision on a purely German application will be made on Saturday: Schwerin and its castle on an island in the lake, as well as other parts of the old town, could then also be added to the list of World Cultural Heritage. The state capital Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has been on Germany's proposal list for ten years.
- The UNESCO decision significantly highlights the cultural and spiritual importance of the Settlements of the Moravian Church in Herrnhut, located in the small town of Herrnhut, Saxony, Germany.
- The President of the German UNESCO Commission, Maria Bohmer, commended the Settlements for their role in fostering cultural and spiritual exchange across borders and continents.
- Saxony's State Chancellor Conrad Clemens, a member of the CDU, praised the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's unanimous decision, considering it a significant day for Herrnhut and Upper Lusatia.
- Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) of Germany applauded Herrnhut's recognition and believed that the entire free state would benefit from this success.
- UNESCO's decision also brought joy to Herrnhut's Mayor Willem Riecke, who emphasized the importance of the World Heritage title in strengthening Moravian Church communities worldwide.
- According to the Bishop of Görlitz, Wolfgang Ipolt, the World Heritage title serves as a beautiful sign for the living faith of the Moravian Church in a secular and faith-alien environment.
- Vice-Minister-President Wolfram Günther (Greens) appreciated UNESCO's decision, which he believed would positively influence public perception of Saxony and its active and engaged citizens.
- Culture and Tourism Minister Barbara Klepsch (CDU) saw new opportunities for global advertising for visitors to Upper Lusatia and Saxony as a result of Moravian Church recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- The Moravian Church, founded in Herrnhut in 1722, has a significant history that extends back to the Bohemian Brotherhood in the 15th century, providing a foundation for its transnational recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- The UNESCO designation of the Settlements of the Moravian Church in Herrnhut has the potential to inspire further World Heritage applications in the Federal Republic of Germany, such as Schwerin and its castle in the state capital Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
