Bordeaux, Port of the Moon

Map

Bordeaux, Port of the Moon: An Inhabited Historic City of Enlightenment Era Architecture

Bordeaux, Port of the Moon, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site located in southwestern France. This port city, renowned for its exceptional urban and architectural ensemble, was inscribed in 2007 due to its significant historical, cultural, and architectural value.

More to come…

UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

The Port of the Moon, port city of Bordeaux in south-west France, is inscribed as an inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the first half of the 20th century, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris. It is also recognized for its historic role as a place of exchange of cultural values over more than 2,000 years, particularly since the 12th century due to commercial links with Britain and the Low Lands. Urban plans and architectural ensembles of the early 18th century onwards place the city as an outstanding example of innovative classical and neoclassical trends and give it an exceptional urban and architectural unity and coherence. Its urban form represents the success of philosophers who wanted to make towns into melting pots of humanism, universality and culture.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

Criterion (ii): Bordeaux, Port of the Moon, constitutes an exceptional testimony to the exchange of human values over more than two thousand years. These exchanges have provided this cosmopolitan town, in the age of Enlightenment, an unparalleled prosperity that provided for an exceptional urban and architectural transformation that continued through 19th century up to present time. The different stages of construction and development of the harbour town are legible in its urban plan, especially the big transformations carried out from the early 18th century onwards.

Criterion (iv): Bordeaux, Port of the Moon, represents an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the Age of Enlightenment, whose values have continued up to the first half of the 20th century. Bordeaux is exceptional in the unity of its urban and architectural classical and neo-classical expression, which has not undergone any stylistic rupture over more than two centuries. Its urban form represents the success of philosophers who wanted to make towns into melting pots of humanism, universality and culture.

Encyclopedia Record: Port de la Lune

The Port de la Lune is the name given to the harbour of Bordeaux, dating to the Middle Ages, because of the shape of the river crossing the city. It is represented by a crescent on the coat of arms of Bordeaux, and by three interlaced crescents in the logotype of the municipality.

Read more on Wikipedia