Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City deleted — the third and most recent removal
At the 44th session, held in Fuzhou, China, the Committee voted 13 in favour, 5 against, with 2 abstentions — one vote above the two-thirds majority required — to delete the property, citing the irreversible loss of attributes conveying its Outstanding Universal Value after developments inside the site and its buffer zone went ahead. The city rejected the decision and continued to build. As of 2025 no fourth deletion has occurred.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (delisted 2021) · site · United Kingdom
- List of World Heritage in Danger · instrument · Global · not located
- World Heritage Committee · institution · Global (sessions rotate by host State) · not located
- Outstanding Universal Value and the ten selection criteria · concept · Global · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
World Heritage Committee deletes Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City from UNESCO's World Heritage List
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City, inscribed in 2004 and placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2012 over the Liverpool Waters development, was deleted in July 2021 'due to the irreversible loss of attributes conveying the outstanding universal value of the property', the Committee finding developments inside the site and its buffer zone detrimental to authenticity and integrity. ALSO: The Committee voted 13 in favour and 5 against with 2 abstentions — one vote above the two-thirds majority required for deletion — making Liverpool the third site ever removed, after the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary (Oman) and the Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany).
UNESCO; with UN News · 2021-07-21 · Partly verified
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/world-heritage-committee-deletes-liverpool-maritime-mercantile-city-unescos-world-heritage-list — UNESCO statement on the 44th session decision (Fuzhou, China) | also: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/07/1096172 — UN News report on the deletion, including the vote count
Recorded on Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (delisted 2021)
- 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
- 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
- Dresden Elbe Valley deleted — the second removal, by a vote of 14 to 5 · 2009-06
- 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