Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts United Nations Educational, Convention Concerning Scientific and Cultural the Protection of the World , Organization Cultural and Natural Heritage Treasures of Mankind in Hessen UNESCO-World Cultural Heritage · World Natural Heritage · World Documentary Heritage Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst Dr. Ulrich Adolphs Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Rheinstraße 23 – 25 65185 Wiesbaden www.hmwk.hessen.de Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen Prof. Dr. Gerd Weiß UNESCO-Welterbebeauftragter des Landes Präsident des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege Hessen Schloss Biebrich Rheingaustraße 140 65203 Wiesbaden www.denkmalpflege-hessen.de CONTENTS 1 Editorial 2 Bound by Heritage Eva Kühne-Hörmann Introduction 4 Protect and Conserve Prof. Dr. Gerd Weiß WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE Gateway to the Early Middle Ages 6 Lorsch Abbey River Romance 10 Upper Middle Rhine Valley The Empire’s Frontier 14 Upper German-Raetian Limes WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE The Pompeii of Palaeontology 18 Messel Pit Fossil Site WORLD DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE Modern Classics 22 The Silent Film “Metropolis” Imprint: Published by: The Hessen Minister of Higher Education, Research and the Arts • Rheinstraße 23 – 25 Fabulous Fairy Tales 24 • 65185 Wiesbaden • Editors: Gabriele Amann-Ille, Dr. Ralf Breyer, Dr. Reinhard Dietrich • Layout: Grimm’s Household Tales Kirberg Design, Hünfelden • Illustrations: Hessen World Heritage Sites, Hessen State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, Hessen State Museum Darmstadt, page 7: Architectura Vir- tualis GmbH cooperation partner of Darmstadt technical university, page 8 below: Faksimile Verlag WORLD HERITAGE in wissenmedia GmbH, Munich, pages 10 – 12: Rüdesheim Tourist AG/K. H. Walter, page 15: Archive of Saalburg Museum, page 17: German Limes Commission (graphics: M. Horn)/Archive of World Heritage Sites and World Documentary Saalburg Museum, pages 22 – 25: akg images • Printed by: typographics GmbH, Darmstadt • Heritage in Germany 26 Translation: Roswitha Stolpe Contacts and Information 28 2 EDITORIAL EDITORIAL 3 Bound by Heritage Dear readers, Hessen takes pride in a number of cultural assets recognised as But there is still more to discover in Hessen: The State of Hessen represented by UNESCO World Heritage. Each of these distinctions presents an the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts undertakes exceptional honour and recognition of architectural, natural or to apply for the nomination of the Kassel hillside park “Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe” intellectual treasures in Hessen. At the same time, this recognition is an obligation to the UNESCO World Heritage under the title “Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe with to preserve them in the best interest of mankind as a whole, to make them Herkules and water features. Staging power in the landscape.” The current adequately available to the public and to show them. UNESCO nomination proceedings envisage a decision not to be taken until 2013 at the earliest. The new visitor and information centre of the World Natural Heritage site Messel Fossil Pit near Darmstadt gives evidence of this. It is intended to contribute to I hope you enjoy reading this informative booklet. I would be pleased if it inspired raising even more the awareness for this worldwide unique fossil site. The remark- you to pay a visit to the Hessian World Heritage sites. ably appealing architectural conception and presentation techniques are pace making and will lead to a sustained rise in its attractiveness for tourists. There are three further Hessian World Heritage sites “Lorsch Abbey”, “Upper Middle Rhine Valley” and “Upper German-Raetian Limes”, the two latter of which distinguish themselves by extending over several Federal States. Thus they clearly Eva Kühne-Hörmann symbolise the quality of what is meant by World Heritage: It is not the merit of one The Hessen Minister of Higher Education, Research and the Arts country to hold a World Heritage site, it is rather its obligation to preserve it. In addition, Hessen accommodates two World Documentary Heritages: Fritz Lang’s silent film “Metropolis” which had its premiere in 1927 and which is taken care of by the foundation “Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung” in Wiesbaden, as well as the personal copies of Children’s and Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm from 1812/1815 which are kept in Kassel. 4 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 5 Protect and Conserve Dear readers, The 16 November 1972 was a very special date. This was the day In Germany, it lies within the responsibility of each state to decide on the protec- when the 17th General Conference of the UNESCO adopted the tion and preservation of monuments. Possible applications for accession to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and World Heritage List were combined in the tentative list and adopted by the Natural Heritage, also referred to as World Heritage Convention. This inter- Conference of Secretaries of Culture and Education. This tentative list forms the nationally important instrument, maybe the most important one which has ever basis for future German nominations to the UNESCO World Heritage List. been entered into by the international community for the protection of its cultural Beginning in 1992, the UNESCO has established a worldwide network in form of a and natural heritage, was ratified by 187 States to date. They engage to protect “Memory of the World” programme which nominates valuable collection of books, the World Heritage sites on their territory and to conserve them for future manuscripts, scores, and also audiovisual and film documents of worldwide generations. significance. This programme aims at disseminating information on documentary It is the international community’s joint desire expressed in the so called World heritage of outstanding value in archives, libraries and museums, safeguarding Heritage Convention to preserve those “parts of the cultural or natural heritage them, and making them accessible by the most modern means of information that are of outstanding interest and, therefore, need to be preserved as part of the technology. The register includes 193 documents from all over the world, among world heritage of mankind as a whole”. Since 1972, 911 cultural and natural them figure 11 from Germany.* Same applies here, every year new documents heritage sites from 151 states on all continents have been added to the UNESCO are added, and their number rises constantly. World Heritage List, 33 of them are from Germany. They include 704 cultural, 180 natural and 27 mixed properties.* As new sites are added every year, their number constantly rises. An Intergovernmental Committee established under the World Heritage Conven- tion has set up criteria defining which of the proposed sites of the member states Prof. Dr. Gerd Weiß World Heritage Representative of the Hessen State Government will be added to the “World Heritage List”. “Outstanding universal value” figures President of the Hessen State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments among these criteria just as well as “historical authenticity” for cultural properties or “integrity” for a natural heritage site. It is required to present a status report on the current state of preservation as well as a convincing management and conservation plan. * 8/2010 6 WELTKULTURERBEWORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE 7 Gateway to the Early Middle Ages Lorsch Abbey t is the year 764. The European area that today constitutes Germany is in an era which will retrospectively be referred to as the “Dark Ages”. Here lives I a late Germanic population on farming in a nearly unlettered culture in small self-sustained settlements amidst dense forests. The civilisation which became extinct also west of the river Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire was only upheld by a few isolated spots. Lorsch Abbey near the legendary city of Worms is one of them. Today, the remains of the Benedictine abbey lie in the south of Hessen within the boundaries of the city of Lorsch. In 1991 the relics of the abbey were nominated World Cultural Heritage. And it became the first Hessian Cultural Heritage site at all. The Abbey’s symbol is the ancient gatehouse or King’s hall whose exact function could not be unveiled to this day. Nevertheless, it represents one of the oldest and at the same time most significant historical German monuments from the pre-Romanesque period. Serving as a symbol of Carolingian architecture and cloister culture in Europe it was once part of a big and powerful cloister complex. It is one of the very rare architectural monuments from Carolingian times which has preserved its original appearance over the centuries and reminds of the former significance of the once mighty cloister complex. Portal to the Early Middle Ages: The gatehouse or King’s hall from the pre-Romanesque period. Its function remains unclear to this day. Intellectual centre of power: Reconstruction of Lorsch Abbey. 8 WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE 9 “This abbey used to have a really old library which was unique in Germany. But most of the old books have been removed on the quiet.” Sebastian Münster, Ingelheim (1488 – 1552) Lorsch Abbey was founded around the year 764 by the Frankish Count Cancor and his mother Williswinda under the reign of King Pippin the Short (751 – 768 AD). It was already in 772 when the Abbey became the property of the King who granted it numerous privileges. After the death of King Ludwig the German (876) it reached its height when it became the burial place of the East Frankish (German) kings. King Ludwig III had a tomb church built to bury his father. Later, he himself and his son Hugo as well as Kunigunde, spouse of King Konrad I, here found their resting place. The prosperous Abbey was heavily devastated by a fire in 1090, but again reconstructed. In 1232 Lorsch was incorporated in the Archbishopric of Mainz and lost most of its privileges. After the Benedictines followed the Early belief: Relics of the Romanesque church remain from the once mighty cloister.