UNESCO Heritage Sites in Germany

A listing of German cultural, architectural, and natural treasures

Sep 2, 2007 Henk Bekker

Germany has 32 sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. These cultural, architectural, and natural treasures help explain German influence in humanity's common heritage.

German sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List (in order of inclusion on the list) are:

Aachen Cathedral (Dom) – the core is Carolingian from around 800.

Speyer Cathedral (Dom) – the largest Romanesque building in Germany.

Würzburg Residence (Residenz) – this sumptuous palace is a synthesis of the European Baroque.

Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) – the definitive work of the Bavarian-Rococo designed by Dominikus Zimmermann.

Palaces Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Brühl – Germany’s first major Rococo palace and favored residence of the Cologne Archbishops.

St Mary’s Cathedral (Dom) and St Michael’s Church (Michaelskirche) in Hildesheim – two important early Romanesque churches.

Roman Monuments, Cathedral (Dom), and Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Trier – Germany’s oldest city has its largest Roman monuments and first Gothic church.

Hanseatic City of Lübeck – a medieval town plan and marvelous brick Gothic buildings.

Palaces and Parks in Potsdam and Berlin – the preferred residences of the Prussian Electors and Kings; including Frederick the Great’s Sanssouci.

Abbey of Lorsch – the only Carolingian building to have survived in its original form.

Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of Goslar – an important residence of early German kings and the mines a source of wealth for centuries.

Town of Bamberg – the old town, with over a 1000 listed buildings, kept much of its early medieval layout.

Kloster Maulbronn Monastery Complex – the best-preserved Cistercian monastery in Germany.

Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg – a remarkable ensemble of 1,300 half-timbered buildings and an important church from early German history.

Völklingen Ironworks (Hütte) – the only completely preserved nineteenth century ironworks in Europe.

Messel Pit Fossil Site – life as it was known 49 million years ago; finds include 30 complete skeletons of pre-horses.

Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) – the largest Gothic church façade in the world, constructed between 1248 and 1880.

Bauhaus Sites in Weimar and Dessau – the origins of this influential design school.

Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg – sights associated with the church reformer.

Classical Weimar – a small town but a giant in German literature and preferred home of Schiller and Goethe.

Wartburg Castle in Eisenach – the most German of castles.

Museum Island (Museuminsel) in Berlin – an island in the heart of Berlin with numerous mostly nineteenth century museum buildings.

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz – eighteenth-century English landscape-style gardens.

Monastic Island of Reichenau – three important Romanesque churches.

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (Industriekomplex Zeche) in Essen – a major industrial complex with Bauhaus-inspired architecture from the 1930s.

Historic Centers of Stralsund and Wismar – medieval town plans and brick Gothic architecture.

Upper Middle Rhine Valley – natural beauty, wine, and endless castles.

Town Hall (Rathaus) and Roland of Bremen – the market square of an important Hanseatic League city.

Muskauer Park / Park Muzakowski – a nineteenth-century park split by the Neisse River, or German-Polish border since the end of World War II.

Upper German-Raetian Limes – the frontier between civilized Rome and barbaric Germania ran 550 km from the Rhine to the Danube – Europe’s longest monument.

Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof – Germany’s best-preserved medieval city core.

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates – innovative low-income housing estates erected between 1910 and 1933.

The Waddensee (shared with the Netherlands) – a relatively flat coastal wetland with an important intertidal ecosystem.

(Dresden Elbe Valley was deleted from the list in 2009.)

The copyright of the article UNESCO Heritage Sites in Germany in W Europe Travel is owned by Henk Bekker. Permission to republish UNESCO Heritage Sites in Germany in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.