World Heritage status requested for local war sites

Summary

The Flemish government has prepared a list of Great War sites it wants to see receive Unesco World Heritage designation as part of the region’s commemoration of the centenary

Tourism minister says value of sites is universal

The government of Flanders has drawn up a shortlist of 18 Great War sites to be submitted for recognition as World Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

The application for Unesco recognition coincides with the region’s commemoration of the First World War centenary, which begins this year and continues until 2018. Battlefield, memorial and cemetery sites in West Flanders and elsewhere will play a major role in the wave of tourism expected during the four-year centenary.

“Recognition as Unesco World Heritage would be the icing on the cake of the commemoration of the First World War,” Geert Bourgeois, Flemish minister of heritage and tourism, told an audience of politicians, business representatives and organisations recently. “It would be a suitable and lasting reminder, far beyond 2018, of what took place here 100 years ago.”

Unesco maintains a list of 981 sites in 160 countries that are considered of “outstanding universal value” for the cultural and natural heritage of mankind. They include monasteries in Armenia, the Great Barrier Reef, the historic centres of Salzburg, Graz and Vienna, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Great Wall of China, the fortifications of Old Havana and the Galapagos islands. In Belgium, the list includes the Grote Markt in Brussels, the historic centre of Bruges and the begijnhoven of Flanders.

At the announcement of the list earlier this month, Bourgeois stressed that the value of First World War heritage is not exclusive to Flanders but is universal. The dossier that will be submitted to Unesco also involves the governments of Wallonia and France as well as Flanders. 

No bell jar

When the government first announced its intention to introduce a submission for World Heritage status, it was understood it would cover the whole of the Westhoek frontline. That would have the effect of forcing farmers to apply to Unesco if they wanted to put up a new barn, for example, or demolish an old one. 

Bourgeois has since made it clear that the heritage designation would be specifically for war-related sites and not for the entire landscape. The submission would also ensure, he said, that there would be no hindrance to economic activities, crops or permits. The government had no intention of placing a bell jar over the Westhoek, Bourgeois said.

The announcement was welcomed by West Flemish farmers, represented by the farmers’ unions Boerenbond and ABS. “Our discussions with minister Bourgeois were constructive and brought a great deal of clarity,” said Boerenbond chair Piet Vanthemsche.

The dossier is due to be submitted to Unesco in early 2016 and will receive an opinion from the scientific advisory committee later that year. A decision will be announced at the annual general meeting of the World Heritage committee in the summer of 2017.

The Unesco shortlist

Nieuwpoort: Monument to the Lost
Diksmuide: Vladslo German military cemetery; crypt beneath the IJzertoren (pictured)
Alveringem: Oeren Belgian military cemetery
Houthulst: Belgian military cemetery
Langemark-Poelkapelle: German military cemetery; Canadian monument The Brooding Soldier
Zonnebeke: Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries Tyne Cot and Doelbos
Ypres: Menin Gate CWGC cemeteries Essex Farm, Pilken, Bedford House, Palingbeek
Heuvelland: Kemmelberg military graves cluster; CWGC cemetery Spanbroekmolen
Mesen: Island of Ireland Peace Tower
Poperinge: CWGC cemetery Lijssenthoek

Photo by milo-profi photography/Visit Flanders

 

First World War

Claiming the lives of more than nine million people and destroying entire cities and villages in Europe, the Great War was one of the most dramatic armed conflicts in human history. It lasted from 1914 to 1918.
Flanders Field - For four years, a tiny corner of Flanders known as the Westhoek became one of the war’s major battlefields.
Untouched - Poperinge, near Ypres, was one of the few towns in Flanders that remained unoccupied for most of the war.
Cemetery - The Tyne Cot graveyard in Passchendaele is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world.
550 000

lives lost in West Flanders

368 000

annual visitors to the Westhoek

1 914

First Battle of Ypres