The most famous heritage sites in our countries – Top 11

Asking students about the UNESCO-Sites they know within their countries led to the following Top 11-list. Unsurprisingly this list is heavily affected by nearby monuments and also shows the effect of working inside the project. Keeping in mind that lots of answers came from students of Babenhausen German UNESCO sites were mentioned more often than those of Barcelona, Lisbon or Lentvaris.


1. Cologne Cathedral / Kölner Dom

Cathedral of Cologne, Picture: Raimond Spekking

CC BY-SA 4.0 www.wikipedia.org

Cologne Cathedral is a Catholic Cathedral in North Rhine- Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage site in 1996. The towers are 157 m high and the construction started in 1248 and was finished by the end of the 19th century. It contains the grace of the three holy kings.

2. Messel pit/Grube Messel

The Messel pit, near the German city Darmstadt is a famous fossil site with a big geological and scientific importance. Since 1995 the Messel pit is a part of the UNESCO world heritage and the first natural heritage site of Germany. In the 1970s serious scientific excavation of fossils took place in this pit and it didn’t stop yet, still today are significant scientific discoveries being made and the site has increasingly become a tourist site as well.

What was found in the Messel pit?

The fossil finds from the pit Messel are very extensive and include not only plants but also invertebrates and vertebrates. There are more than 75 families of more than 200 species known for micro and macro fossil plants alone. Up to now, 130 taxa have been identified among vertebrates, including more than 40 species from more than 30 genera of the mammals alone – tiny primeval horses being the most famous. 

Primeval horse (Propalaeotherium hassiacum) in Senckenberg Museum,

picture by Daderot, wikipedia.org,

C0 1.0

3. Jerónimos Monastery/ Monteiro dos Jerónimos

The Jerónimos Monastery, is a former monastery of the Order Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in Belem close to Lisbon. It’s constrctution started on January 6th 1501. Did you know: the design of Jerónimos Monastery is a combination of Gothic, and early Renaissance styles.

Roman bath of Fort Salisberg, Hanau-Kesselstadt, 

picture: Reinhard Dietrich, wikipedia.org, CC0 1.0

4. The Limes

The limes is an ancient roman border wall crossing almost all central Europe. Major parts belong to Germany. Close to Babenhausen are many town connected to the Limes. For example Hanau: Hanau lies at the point where the Kinzig and the Main rivers meet. Two forts were discovered in Kesselstadt – a part of town. The elder fort was built around 88 AD and the second around 100 AD. The fort bath was excavated in the old graveyard of Kesselstadt. Its walls are still visible. Below the current centre of Kesselstadt there was a 14 ha large marching camp that was only temporarily used.

5. Trakai castle

Trakai castle is an Island castle located in Trakai (Lithuania) on an Island in Lake Galve. The construction of the stone castle was begun in the 14th century by Kestutis and around 1409 major works were completed by his son Vytautas the Great who died in this castle in 1430.

6. Aachen Cathedral

Frontview of the Aachen Cathedral

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, Wikipedia

Aachen Cathedra traditionally called in English the Cathedral of Aix-La-Chapelle is a Roman catholic church in Aachen. It is a historical importance because it was the center of the Carolingian empire in the early middle age. It contains the throne of Emperor Charlemagne. 










7. Sagrada Familia  

The Basilica “Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Famila” is a large unfinished Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. The construction started in 1882. Height: 172 m

8. Belém Tower

Belem tower, or the “Tower of Saint Vincent”, is a fortified tower located in the estuary of the river Tagus in Lisbon. The ship-shaped fortification was constructed in 1514 and is 30 m high. It is a World Heritage Site because of the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries of the era of the Age of Discoveries.

9. Gediminas tower

Gediminas tower is he remaining part of the Upper castle in Vilnius Lithuania.

The first wooden fortifications were built by Gediminas grand duke of Lithuania. The first brick castle was completed in 1409 by Grand Duke Vytautas. The three floor tower was rebuilt in 1933 by Polish architect Jan Borowski and is 48 m high. Gediminas Tower is an important state and historic symbol of the city of Vilnius and of Lithuania itself.



10. Vilnius Old town

The well-preserved old town is known for historic buildings in a variety of different styles, including Baroque and Gothic churches. It is the largest preserved old town in Eastern Europe.

11. Paisagem de Sintra

In the 19th century Sintra became the first centre of European Romantic architecture. Ferdinand ll turned a ruined monastery into a castle where this new sensitivity was displayed in the use of Gothic Egyptain, Moorish and Renaissance elements and in the creation of a park blending dwellings, built along the same lines in the surrounding sera, created a unique combination of parks and gardens which influenced the development of landscape architecture throughout Europe.

Palacio di Pena - Sintra, CC-BY 2.0,

Wikimedia.commons, Picture by: Singa Hitam

Stella


All pictures except where mentioned: Andreas Murmann, CC-BY-SA 4.0