World Heritage Identification Number: 970
World Heritage since: 2000
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇦🇹 Austria
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Wachau Cultural Landscape: A Glimpse into Austria's Rich History and Viticulture
The Wachau Cultural Landscape, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, offers a unique blend of history, culture, and natural beauty along the Danube River in Austria. Stretching between the picturesque towns of Melk and Krems, this 36-kilometer valley is renowned for its high-quality wines, architectural elegance, and rich historical significance.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The Wachau is a stretch of the Danube Valley between Melk and Krems, a landscape of high visual quality. It preserves in an intact and visible form many traces - in terms of architecture, (monasteries, castles, ruins), urban design, (towns and villages), and agricultural use, principally for the cultivation of vines - of its evolution since prehistoric times.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (ii): The Wachau is an outstanding example of a riverine landscape bordered by mountains in which material evidence of its long historical evolution has survived to a remarkable degree.
Criterion (iv): The architecture, the human settlements, and the agricultural use of the land in the Wachau vividly illustrate a basically medieval landscape which has evolved organically and harmoniously over time.
Encyclopedia Record: Wachau
The Wachau is an Austrian valley formed by the Danube River. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located between the towns of Melk and Krems that attracts epicureans for its high-quality wines. It is 36 kilometres (22 mi) in length and has been settled since prehistoric times. Among the tourist attractions is Dürnstein Castle, where King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria. The architectural elegance of its monasteries, castles and ruins combined with the urban architecture of its towns and villages, and the cultivation of vines as an important agricultural produce are the dominant features of the valley.Additional Site Details
Area: 18,462 hectares
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
Coordinates: 48.36444444 , 15.43416667
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© C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
