1. World Heritage Property Data 2. Statement of Outstanding Universal Value
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Periodic Report - Second Cycle Section II-Venice and its Lagoon 1. World Heritage Property Data Venezia tel + 39 041 274 7135 Fax: +39 041 2747178 Mail: [email protected] , [email protected] 1.1 - Name of World Heritage Property Venice and its Lagoon 1.7 - Web Address of the Property (if existing) 1. View photos from OUR PLACE the World 1.2 - World Heritage Property Details Heritage collection State(s) Party(ies) 2. The Venice in Peril Fund Italy 3. UNESCO, Office in Venice Type of Property 4. Associazione Aliusmodi cultural 5. Venetia - Comune di Venezia Identification Number Comment 394 The official website of the property is : Year of inscription on the World Heritage List www.veniceandlagoon.net 1987 1.8 - Other designations / Conventions under which the property is protected (if applicable) 1.3 - Geographic Information Table Comment Name Coordinates Property Buffer Total Inscription (latitude/longitude) (ha) zone (ha) year The City of Venice, recognised within UNISDR “Making Cities (ha) Resilient” Campaign Champion Venice has been recognised Venice 45.434 / 12.339 0 0 0 1987 as Innovation City within the Network C40 Cities Venice has and its been recognised has "role model" city for the protection of Lagoon cultural heritage. Total (ha) 0 Comment 2. Statement of Outstanding Universal Value Property (ha): 70.882,29 2.1 - Statement of Outstanding Universal Value / 1.4 - Map(s) Statement of Significance Title Date Link to source Statement of Outstanding Universal Value Ecosistema Della Laguna Veneziana, Scale of 16/03/1987 Brief synthesis original: 1:50,000 The UNESCO World Heritage property comprises the city of Comment Venice and its lagoon situated in the Veneto Region of It is under completion the review of the site''s map after a Northeast Italy. Founded in the 5th century AD and spread more precise assessment of its boundaries and also of its over 118 small islands, Venice became a major maritime area. power in the 10th century. The whole city is an extraordinary architectural masterpiece in which even the smallest building 1.5 - Governmental Institution Responsible for the contains works by some of the world''s greatest artists such as Property Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and others. In this lagoon covering 50,000 km², nature and history have Adele Cesi been closely linked since the 5th century when Venetian Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali populations, to escape barbarian raids, found refuge on the Funzionario sandy islands of Torcello, Jesolo and Malamocco. These Ufficio Patrimonio Mondiale UNESCO, Segretariato temporary settlements gradually became permanent and the Generale - Servizio 1 initial refuge of the land-dwelling peasants and fishermen Comment became a maritime power. Over the centuries, during the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo entire period of the expansion of Venice, when it was obliged Francesca Riccio Funzionario Ufficio Patrimonio Mondiale to defend its trading markets against the commercial UNESCO, Segretariato Generale - Servizio 1 Via del Collegio undertakings of the Arabs, the Genoese and the Ottoman Romano, 27 00186 Roma Italy Telephone: +39 06 67232140 Turks, Venice never ceased to consolidate its position in the Fax: +39 06 67232105 Email: [email protected] lagoon. In this inland sea that has continuously been under threat, rises amid a tiny archipelago at the very edge of the waves 1.6 - Property Manager / Coordinator, Local Institution / one of the most extraordinary built-up areas of the Middle Agency Ages. From Torcello to the north to Chioggia to the south, Giorgio Orsoni almost every small island had its own settlement, town, fishing Municipality of Venice village and artisan village (Murano). However, at the heart of Sindaco the lagoon, Venice itself stood as one of the greatest capitals Comment in the medieval world. When a group of tiny islands were Mr. Vittorio Zappalorto has been recently nominated as the consolidated and organized in a unique urban system, nothing Prefectural Commissioner to the City of Venice, until the remained of the primitive topography but what became canals, election of a new mayor on spring 2015. Further Contact such as the Giudecca Canal, St Mark''s Canal and the Great details are: arch. Katia Basili Ufficio Sito Unesco "Venezia e la Canal, and a network of small rii that are the veritable arteries sua Laguna" Palazzo Contarini Mocenigo 3980 30124 of a city on water. Page 1 Monday, October 13, 2014 (8:37:13 PM CEST) Periodic Report - Section II-Venice and its Lagoon World Heritage Centre Periodic Report - Second Cycle Section II-Venice and its Lagoon Venice and its lagoon landscape is the result of a dynamic was from Venice that Marco Polo (1254-1324) set out in process which illustrates the interaction between people and search of China, Annam, Tonkin, Sumatra, India and Persia. the ecosystem of their natural environment over time. Human His tomb at San Lorenzo recalls the role of Venetian interventions show high technical and creative skills in the merchants in the discovery of the world - after the Arabs, but realization of the hydraulic and architectural works in the well before the Portuguese. lagoon area. The unique cultural heritage accumulated in the Integrity lagoon over the centuries is attested by the discovery of Due to their geographical characteristics, the city of Venice important archaeological settlements in the Altino area and and the lagoon settlements have retained their original other sites on the mainland, which were important integrity of the built heritage, the settlement structure and its communication and trade hubs. interrelation in the lagoon. The boundaries of the city and Venice and its lagoon form an inseparable whole of which the other lagoon settlements are well circumscribed and delimited city of Venice is the pulsating historic heart and a unique by water. Venice has retained its boundaries, the landscape artistic achievement. The influence of Venice on the characteristics and the physical and functional relationships development of architecture and monumental arts has been with the lagoon environment. The structure and urban considerable.. morphological form of Venice has remained broadly similar to Criterion (i): Venice is a unique artistic achievement. The city the one the city had in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. is built on 118 small islands and seems to float on the waters The maintained integrity of the layout and urban structure of of the lagoon, composing an unforgettable landscape whose Venice therefore attests to the formal and organizational imponderable beauty inspired Canaletto, Guardi, Turner and conception of space and the technical and creative skills of a many other painters. The lagoon of Venice also has one of the culture and civilization that created exceptional architectural highest concentrations of masterpieces in the world: from values. Despite the diverse styles and historical stratifications, Torcello’s Cathedral to the church of Santa Maria della the buildings and constructions have organically fused into a Salute.The years of the Republic’s extraordinary Golden Age coherent unit, maintaining their physical characteristics and are represented by monuments of incomparable beauty: San their architectural and aesthetic qualities, as well as their more Marco, Palazzo Ducale, San Zanipolo, Scuola di San Marco, technical features, through an architectural language that is Frari and Scuola di San Rocco, San Giorgio Maggiore, etc. both independent and consistent with the function and design Criterion (ii): The influence of Venice on the development of principles of the traditional urban structure of Venice. architecture and monumental arts is considerable; first through Transformations have occurred in the urban settlements in the Serenissima’s fondachi or trading stations, along the terms of functionality. The historic city has altered its urban Dalmatian coast, in Asia Minor and in Egypt, in the islands of functions due to the significant decline in population, the the Ionian Sea, the Peloponnesus, Crete, and Cyprus, where change of use of many buildings, the replacement of the monuments were clearly built following Venetian models. traditional productive activities and services with other But when it began to lose its power over the seas, Venice activities. The exceptionally high tourism pressure on the city exerted its influence in a very different manner, thanks to its of Venice has resulted in a partial functional transformation in great painters. Bellini and Giorgione, then Tiziano, Tintoretto, Venice and the historic centres of the Lagoon. This includes Veronese and Tiepolo completely changed the perception of functional transformations of Venice and the lagoon historic space, light and colour thus leaving a decisive mark on the centers caused by the replacement of residents’ houses with development of painting and decorative arts in the whole of accommodation and commercial activities and services to the Europe. residence with tourism-related activities that endanger the Criterion (iii): With the unusualness of an archaeological site identity and the cultural and social integrity of the property. which still breathes life, Venice bears testimony unto itself. These factors may in the future have a serious negative This mistress of the seas is a link between the East and the impact on the identity and integrity of the property and are West, between Islam and Christianity and lives on