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181222 ICOMOS Heft LXVII_Layout 1 11.01.19 09:15 Seite 83 In Search of OUV: A Methodology for Attribute Mapping in the Circular Villages of the Wendland Michael Schmidt, Kerstin Duncker, Britta Rudolff and Michelle Heese 1. The circular villages (Rundlinge) in the Wend- outstanding examples of a historic settlement landscape of land: a historic settlement landscape axially arranged planned settlements and of the specific ty- pology of a coherent and homogenous cohesive axial dispo- In the Hanoverian Wendland, located in the district of Lü- sition scheme with centralised alignment of the village. In chow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony, a distinctive village ty- the authors’ view, these characteristics can be considered an pology of axially arranged circular villages (Rundlinge) has outstanding example of a traditional form of settlement. been preserved, which forms a settlement landscape of high Around a central open village square, all constitutive elements cultural importance and of potential Outstanding Universal are arranged pointing towards the centre, such as the gabled, Value. The authentic remains of a settlement landscape of half-timbered farmhouses, the farmsteads and the meadows rural character and a characteristic village typology, represent and forests describing the outer extension of the villages. a significant cultural property of the region, which is predes- The homogenous architecture of the vernacular architectural tined for a recognition on the UNESCO World Heritage List. ensemble illustrates a time of economic prosperity in the These circular villages of the Hanoverian Wendland form mid-19th century while also preserving significant earlier el- the largest concentration of continuously occupied, radially ements of the 17th and 18th centuries. As a result, the circular designed settlements within Central and Eastern Europe. Ex- villages of the Hanoverian Wendland constitute a represen- clusively preserved in this area, the Rundling villages are tative settlement structure and village typology, which to- Fig. 1.1 Property boundaries of 19 villages in the World Heritage nomination initiative (Source: Rudolff et al. 2014) Conservation and Rehabilitation of Vernacular Heritage 83 181222 ICOMOS Heft LXVII_Layout 1 11.01.19 09:15 Seite 84 Michael Schmidt, Kerstin Duncker, Britta Rudolff and Michelle Heese Fig. 1.2 Working Process for a World Heritage nomination (based on: UNESCO 2011. Preparing World Heritage Nomina- tions, 2nd edition, p. 56) gether convey a uniquely composed rural landscape of spe- on a national level by the Advisory Board for the revision cific atmosphere. of the German Tentative List, established by the Standing The realisation of this exceptionality marked the starting Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Af- point of the present World Heritage initiative “The Wend- fairs (KMK 2014, p. 35). The Advisory Board further recog- land Circular Villages (Rundlinge)”, driven by the joint nised in its final report that “the 15 circular villages of the municipality of Lüchow-Wendland. As part of this initia- Wendland are distinguished by their largely preserved set- tive, preparations for a nomination of the circular villages tlement structure” (KMK 2014, p. 35), which allows them for the UNESCO World Heritage List have commenced on to stand out among other settlement structures within the different levels. Based on value analysis and attribute def- German context. However, the Board did not recommend inition, circular villages of the larger district were studied immediate inclusion on the German Tentative List, as there and compared at length and a group of 19 villages was fi- were concerns that the authenticity of some villages has nally identified. Within the Hanoverian Wendland, they been impaired by modernisation measures and that “in ad- represent a landscape exclusively composed of circular vil- dition, the medium- and long-term preservation of the vil- lages, with a high conservation status and an impressive lages is seen as problematic” (KMK 2014, p. 35). Moreover, density of settlements. This area, considered as the potential they questioned the basis for the justification of Outstanding candidate property for World Heritage recognition, is com- Universal Value, arguing that “there are many regions all posed of 19 villages, which are Lübeln, Gühlitz, Satemin, over the world with similarly well-preserved historic vil- Jabel, Klennow, Dolgow, Güstritz, Ganse, Lensian, lages” (KMK 2014, p. 35). Schreyahn, Köhlen, Kremlin, Mammoißel, Plüggen, Bus- This paper has been prepared to respond to these concerns, sau, Granstedt, Bausen, Diahren and Prießeck. Through assuring that authenticity and integrity as well as the long- further studies of the historic parish boundaries, the physical term conservation of the villages can be confirmed, and to landscape features, and the distribution of attributes, a po- demonstrate the property’s Outstanding Universal Value. A tential property boundary has been defined and is illustrated second paper in this volume presents a preliminary compar- in Fig. 1.1. ative analysis, demonstrating the ways in which the Rundling The rationale behind the present nomination initiative of villages stand out among other historic settlements on a the Rundlinge in the Wendland is to contribute to a more global and wider regional basis. The values and attributes balanced representation of heritage categories, in particular identified and presented below compose the basis of this when seen in a Central European context. Vernacular ar- comparative analysis. This paper will therefore describe the chitecture and rural settlements have been recognised as process of attribute identification and mapping applied to gaps and currently underrepresented categories on the UN- systematically name and locate the attributes supporting the ESCO World Heritage List, both internationally by ICO- value of the property as an outstanding village typology and MOS in its 2004 Gap Report (ICOMOS 2004) as well as settlement landscape. 84 ICOMOS · Hefte des Deutschen Nationalkomitees LXVII 181222 ICOMOS Heft LXVII_Layout 1 11.01.19 09:15 Seite 85 In Search of OUV: A Methodology for Attribute Mapping in the Circular Villages of the Wendland First and foremost, the value of a potential World Heritage property needs to be fully understood as this value should reflect its global exceptionality, which is the precondition for UNESCO recognition (UNESCO 2011, p. 56). The proper identification of the potential Outstanding Universal Value in terms of its value basis is also essential for the selection of the criteria (ibid). In addition, attributes illustrating these val- ues need to be identified to allow for judgement of the prop- erty’s authenticity and integrity and to determine to what ex- tent the existing attributes can completely and credibly convey the values identified (UNESCO 2015 par. 79–95). Subse- quently, a comparative analysis, as described above, was con- Fig. 1.3 The pillars of OUV (based on: UNESCO 2011. ducted on a global level to confirm the uniqueness and ex- Preparing World Heritage Nominations, 2nd edition, p. 58) ceptionality of the ways in which the identified values are demonstrated through the preserved attributes (see Fig. 1.2). While Outstanding Universal Value becomes one conglomerate 2. In search of Outstanding Universal Value statement at the end of the process, it is important to understand that the above elements need to be identified in a certain se- World Heritage status is not easily awarded as its review and quence to allow for relevant judgements. Within the UNESCO evaluation processes are complex and require a high level of World Heritage context, Outstanding Universal Value is said scrutiny. It is hence important that World Heritage nomina- to be composed of three pillars, which are usually presented in tions are focused on those sites that illustrate the highest po- a specific, logical order for identification and confirmation. tential for Outstanding Universal Value. Defining and un- Although values and attributes are not named within the re- derstanding the property in depth is a crucial step in the spective figures, they are essential components for identifying nomination process of a World Heritage site. Fig. 1.2 illus- the applicability of criteria and provide benchmarks for the trates the working process for the identification of potential judgement of the qualifying conditions of integrity and au- Outstanding Universal Value. thenticity as well as management and protection. Fig. 1.4 Attribute identification and mapping process (based on: UNESCO 2011. Preparing World Heritage Nominations, 2nd edition) Conservation and Rehabilitation of Vernacular Heritage 85 181222 ICOMOS Heft LXVII_Layout 1 11.01.19 09:15 Seite 86 Michael Schmidt, Kerstin Duncker, Britta Rudolff and Michelle Heese The qualifying conditions of authenticity and integrity are il- The position of the circular villages had been fixed, with a lustrated in the second pillar of Fig. 1.3. While the assessment long-term colonisation since the Middle Ages. of integrity is a requirement for all properties nominated for The chronological link between the systematically organised the World Heritage List, authenticity, at present, only needs circular villages (Rundlinge) and the structurally planned sur- to be proven for cultural sites (UNESCO 2011, p. 61ff.). In- rounding land parcels is not quite certain. tegrity can be understood as the completeness of a property, There are no existing settlement