Beemster Polder)
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WHC Nomination Documentation File Name: 899.pdf UNESCO Region: EUROPE AND THE NORTH AMERICA __________________________________________________________________________________________________ SITE NAME: Droogmakerij de Beemster (Beemster Polder) DATE OF INSCRIPTION: 4th December 1999 STATE PARTY: NETHERLANDS CRITERIA: C (i)(ii)(iv) DECISION OF THE WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE: Excerpt from the Report of the 23rd Session of the World Heritage Committee The Committee inscribed the site on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (i), (ii), and (iv): Criterion (i): The Beemster Polder is a masterpiece of creative planning, in which the ideals of antiquity and the Renaissance were applied to the design of a reclaimed landscape. Criterion (ii): The innovative and intellectually imaginative landscape of the Beemster Polder had a profound and lasting impact on reclamation projects in Europe and beyond. Criterion (iv): The creation of the Beemster Polder marks a major step forward in the interrelationship between humankind and water at a crucial period of social and economic expansion. Referring to the particular character of the nominations of the Netherlands, the Observer of the Netherlands informed the Committee that very recently the parliament of the Netherlands had accepted a policy document on the integration of cultural heritage – archaeology, built heritage and cultural landscapes - in national, provincial and local planning policies. World Heritage preservation is explicitly incorporated in this document. The Netherlands would be pleased to share this kind of experience with other States Parties. BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS The Beemster Polder, dating from the early 17th century, is the oldest area of reclaimed land in The Netherlands. It has preserved intact its regular landscape of fields, roads, canals, dikes and settlements, laid out in accordance with the principles of classical and Renaissance planning. 1.b State, Province or Region: Province of Noord-Holland 1.d Exact location: 52° 32' N, 4° 55' E DROOGMAKERIJ DE BEEMSTER (THE BEEMSTER POLDER) THE NETHERLANDS JUNE 1998 CREDITS - Netherlands Department for Conservation (Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg)/ Ministry of Education, Culture and Science) Broederplein 41 3703 CD Zeist P.O. Box 1001 3700 BA Zeist The Netherlands Telephone: ++31 30 698 32 11; Telefax: ++31 30 691 61 89; - Municipality of Beemster Rijn Middelburgstraat 1 P.O. Box 7 1462 ZG Middenbeemster The Netherlands Telephone: ++31 299 682 121; Telefax: ++31 299 681 771; - Production: Netherlands Department for Conservation, in cooperation with: -Municipality of Beemster (Department for Regional Planning, Public Works and the Environment [Afdeling Ruimtelijke Ordening, Openbare Werken en Milieu], M.E. Smit); -Waterschap De Waterlanden (Water Board De Waterlanden), Middenbeemster (Head of General Affairs, G.J. Pielage); -Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Fisheries, IKC Nature Conservation, Forest/Landscape dept. [afd. Bos/Landschap], Wageningen, Drs. A. Haartsen; - Research: -Netherlands Department for Conservation (Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg): Drs. Robert de Jong; -Municipality of Beemster (Department for Regional Planning, Public Works and the Environment, M.E. Smit); -Waterschap De Waterlanden, Middenbeemster (Head of General Affairs, G.J. Pielage); -Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Fisheries, IKC Nature Conservation, Forest/Landscape department: Drs. A.J. Haartsen; - Text: Drs. Robert de Jong, Netherlands Department for Conservation; 2 - Photography: A.J. van der Wal, Netherlands Department for Conservation; - Translation: WTSbv, Zeist; Zeist, June 1998 3 CONTENTS Credits - Contents - Introduction 1. - Identification of the Property 1.1. Country 1.2. Province 1.3. Name of the property 1.4. Geographical location 1.5. Local council 2. - Justification 2.1. Statement of significance 2.2. Comparison with similar properties 2.3. Indication as to authenticity and integrity 2.4. Criteria under which inscription is proposed (and justification for inscription under these criteria) 3. - Description 3.1. Description of the property 3.2. History and development 3.3. Form and date of most recent records of the property 3.4. Present state of conservation 4. - Management 4.1. Ownership 4.2. Legal status 4.3. Protective measures and means of implementing them 4.4. Agency/agencies with management authority 4.5. Level at which management is exercised (e.g., on property, regionally) and the name and address of contact person 4.6. Agreed plans related to the property (e.g., regional plan, local plan, conservation plan, tourism development plan) 4.7. Sources and levels of finance 4.8. Sources of expertise and training in conservation and management techniques 4.9. Visitor facilities and statistics 4.10. Property management plan and statement of objectives 4 5. - Factors Affecting the Property 5.1. Development Pressures (e.g. encroachment, adaptation, agriculture) 5.2. Environmental Pressures (e.g., pollution) 5.3. Visitor/tourism Pressures 5.4. Number of inhabitants within the property 6. - Monitoring 6.1. Key indicators for measuring state of conservation 6.2. Administrative arrangements for monitoring property 7. - Documentation 7.1. Photographs, slides, maps and plans 7.2. Copies of property management plans and extracts of other plans relevant to the property 7.3. Bibliography 7.4. Address where inventory, records and archives are held 8. - Appendices 5 The nomination is presented in the manner as prescribed in paragraph 64 of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO, Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, [Paris], WHC-97/2, February 1997, and the Convention concerning the protection of the World cultural and natural heritage/Format for the nomination of cultural and natural properties for inscription on the World Heritage List, [Paris], WHC-97/WS/6 6 INTRODUCTION In 1995 The Netherlands informed the World Heritage Centre that it was categorising its cultural heritage nominations - relating to the built-up environment and architectonic monuments of exceptional universal significance - for the UNESCO World Heritage List into three themes: The Netherlands - Water Land, the Republic of the Seven United Provinces in the 17th century and the Dutch contribution to the International Movement in architecture at the beginning of this century. The first three nominations - the "Stelling van Amsterdam" (Defence Line of Amsterdam) (1995), the windmill complex at Kinderdijk-Elshout (1996) and the Wouda-Gemaal (Wouda Pumpng Station) at Lemmer (1997) - related to the theme of The Netherlands - Water Land. The nomination of the Beemster polder also falls within this category. At the same time, it must be seen as a nomination within the category of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces in the 17th century. In many ways the reclamation of the Beemster polder and the development of the historic city centre of Amsterdam, with its unique 17th century ring of canals (nomination of this area for inclusion on the World Heritage List can be expected within a few years) have direct and demonstrable cultural, conceptual and intellectual relationships with each other. The Beemster polder can only be viewed within the context of the economic, cultural and political environment of Amsterdam at the beginning of the 17th century. The Beemster polder is a unique monument, as is the canal belt of Amsterdam. It is a hydraulic and civil engineering monument of exceptional significance. The creation of De Beemster is particularly the result of an intellectual concept based on theories of the Classics and the Italian Renaissance regarding the 'ideal of the straight line', the 'città ideale' and the discipline of numbers, as worked out by Plato and St. Augustine. The layout of the area also reflects the Vitruvian principles of 'firmitas, utilitas et venustas'. The principles of order, of reason, of mathematics and well-considered planning reign here, implemented on a monumental scale. The geometrically organised, strictly rational layout and pure composition of the land reclaimed from the water, with its spatial order of interconnected 'green chambers' simultaneously forms a link with other polders created by Dutchmen in many other European countries in later centuries. De Beemster was also the model for reclaimed land and polders (Wieringermeer and Noordoostpolder) created in this century, as part of the Zuiderzee works, whereby The Netherlands converted a large and unpredictable inland sea, the Zuiderzee, into an inland lake, the IJsselmeer. The Beemster polder is a site as described in Article 1 of the World Heritage Convention. Furthermore, it is a landscape, a "designed landscape, created intentionally by man" as indicated in Article 39 (i) of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. The momentum of the intellectual, cultural concept that took hold in The Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century is of exceptional universal significance. The concept spread its image and application across Europe and is consequently part of the European cultural heritage. Town planning views prevailing in the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which were effectuated in the Beemster polder, were not restricted to old Europe, but were also expanded and applied in the founding of cities in the New World. 7 The intellectual concept on which De Beemster was founded was both visionary