Dresden Elbe Valley deleted — the second removal, by a vote of 14 to 5
At the 33rd session in Seville in June 2009 the Committee voted 14 in favour, 5 against, with 2 abstentions, to delete the Dresden Elbe Valley, finding that construction of the four-lane Waldschlösschen bridge through the heart of the cultural landscape meant the property had failed to keep the Outstanding Universal Value for which it was inscribed in 2004. The property had been danger listed in 2006, and in 2008 the Committee had explicitly warned that deletion would follow in 2009 if construction were not halted and the damage reversed. It was not.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Dresden Elbe Valley (delisted 2009) · site · Germany
- Waldschlösschen Bridge, Dresden · infrastructure · Germany
- List of World Heritage in Danger · instrument · Global · not located
- World Heritage Committee · institution · Global (sessions rotate by host State) · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Dresden is deleted from UNESCO's World Heritage List
At the 33rd session in Seville in June 2009 the Committee voted 14 to 5 with 2 abstentions to delete the Dresden Elbe Valley, on the ground that the four-lane Waldschlösschen bridge meant the property failed to keep its 'outstanding universal value as inscribed'. The property was inscribed in 2004, danger listed in 2006, and warned in 2008 that deletion would follow in 2009 absent a halt to construction. ALSO: Analyses the Dresden delisting as a conflict between local democratic and judicial process and international heritage obligation, and treats the case as a test of whose interests 'world heritage' represents.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre (news item), corroborated by UN News; with International Journal of Cultural Property (Cambridge University Press) · 2009-06 · Partly verified
https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/522 — UNESCO World Heritage Centre news item; corroborating UN News report at https://news.un.org/en/story/2009/06/304632 | also: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-cultural-property/article/whose-world-heritage-dresdens-waldschlosschen-bridge-and-unescos-delisting-of-the-dresden-elbe-valley1/BB76C25FAC815AAB5862F70D53A7A212
Recorded on Dresden Elbe Valley (delisted 2009)
- The first properties are inscribed on the World Heritage List
- Angkor inscribed on the World Heritage List and the danger list on the same day
- The Committee adopts the Global Strategy for a Balanced, Representative and Credible World Heritage List
- Angkor removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger
- The cultural and natural criteria are merged into a single set of ten
- Galápagos Islands placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
- Arabian Oryx Sanctuary deleted — the first site ever removed from the World Heritage List
- Dresden Elbe Valley deleted — the second removal, by a vote of 14 to 5
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
- Fourteen of Timbuktu's sixteen inscribed mausoleums destroyed
- The Temple of Bel at Palmyra destroyed
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City deleted — the third and most recent removal
- The Committee declines, again, to place Venice on the danger list
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Committee declines, again, to place Venice on the danger list · 2023-09
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City deleted — the third and most recent removal · 2021-07-21
- The Temple of Bel at Palmyra destroyed · 2015-08-30
- Fourteen of Timbuktu's sixteen inscribed mausoleums destroyed · 2012-06-30/2012-07-11
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger · 2012
- Galápagos Islands placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger · 2007
- Arabian Oryx Sanctuary deleted — the first site ever removed from the World Heritage List · 2007
- The cultural and natural criteria are merged into a single set of ten · 2005