UNESCO World Heritage Applications

The Great War

To protect and make widely known the landscapes in France where battles were fought during the Great War and the subsequent innumerable memorials, cemeteries and other sites of historic and cultural significance which commemorate the international conflicts, 13 French départements have prepared impressive presentations for submission to UNESCO for inscription as World Heritage Sites. In the Somme, Thiepval, Villers-Bretonneux and Noyelles-sur-Mer, all by Edwin Lutyens, inevitably feature but the dossiers are wide ranging, cataloguing not only natural features but also modest structures which contribute on the ground to the whole picture of that momentous era in the modern history of mankind.

Michael Barker

Imperial Cities of Delhi

A document has been submitted to UNESCO proposing the Imperial Cities of Delhi, comprising Shahjahanabad (the Walled City or Old Delhi) and the part of New Delhi built by the Colonial government, to be inscribed as World Heritage Cities. The two areas represent cities built by two thriving empires (Mughal and British) – although today the areas represent only 2% of the Capital’s territory and a small proportion of its population which has now grown to 17 million. The application, which sets out arguments to justify the ‘outstanding universal value’ of the Imperial Cities, has been accepted to UNESCO’s tentative list. A detailed dossier is now under preparation and will be submitted later in 2012.

Charles Lutyens