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Synagogue in Worms: The Jewish cultural assets in Worms, Mainz and Speyer have been recognized as world heritage
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
For the first time, Unesco has honored Jewish cultural assets in Germany: The so-called Schum sites Mainz, Worms and Speyer have been recognized as a world heritage site as the cradle of European Jewry. The Lower Germanic Limes as part of the border of the ancient Roman Empire was also classified as a new world heritage site. The responsible committee of the UN Organization for Education, Science and Culture (Unesco) made the decisions on Tuesday at its meeting in Fuzhou, China.
After the award of the health resorts Baden-Baden, Bad Ems and Bad Kissingen together with eight other European baths and the Mathildenhöhe artist colony in Darmstadt, Germany can decorate itself with a total of four new World Heritage titles at the current meeting.
Only cultural and natural sites of "outstanding universal value" are designated as world heritage.
»Jerusalem on the Rhine«
The Schum sites in Mainz, Worms and Speyer in Rhineland-Palatinate are places of the Jewish Middle Ages and are also called »Jerusalem on the Rhine«. Schum is an abbreviation from the medieval Hebrew first letters of the cities. In Mainz, the old cemetery is part of the legacy of the Jewish people. Around 1000 years after the first burials, many historical gravestones can still be found. There is also a Jewish cemetery in Worms, as well as a quarter with a synagogue, a ritual bath (mikveh) and a museum. Speyer had a similarly rich Jewish community life.
After the discussion about the Danube Limes as part of the border of the Roman Empire had to be transferred to a working group the day before for procedural reasons, the award of the Lower German Limes went smoothly.
Both sections have been nominated individually as part of the serial world heritage "Frontiers of the Roman Empire".
The 400-kilometer-long Lower Germanic Limes with its forts and legionary camps runs along the Rhine.
They also speak of the "wet Limes" there.
Decisions until Saturday
Applicants are the residents: the Netherlands as well as North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The border section begins in Rheinbrohl in Rhineland-Palatinate and ends at the North Sea in the Netherlands. The border region was a center of ancient culture and the beginning of the cities in the Rhineland. The Roman traces include military installations, sanctuaries, statues and everyday objects.
The World Heritage Committee will meet until Saturday.
It is made up of 21 elected signatory states to the World Heritage Convention.
As a rule, it decides annually on the registration of new cultural and natural sites in the World Heritage List and deals with the condition of the registered sites.
Because of the pandemic, the conference was postponed last year.
There are more than 1,100 cultural and natural sites in 167 countries on the World Heritage List.
51 of them are considered threatened.
Germany now has 50 world heritage sites.
hpi / dpa
