Germany UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Posts tagged ‘Germany UNESCO World Heritage Sites’

24T11 Trier: imperial relic, world heritage

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(The Moselle is running high in Trier, but it’s not much compared to the flood damage in many low-lying parts of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland. Plus side, there are lots of visitors here this Pentecost holiday long-weekend.)

Built around 310 CE, the Aula Palatina (Palatinate Hall) functioned as the throne-space for Roman Emperor Constantine the Great: the building was a single-room palace basilica. The measurements are impressive not only to list, but also by sight: length 67 metres (220 feet), width 27 m (88 ft), height 33 m (108 ft). The building is the largest single-room Roman structure still in existence, and is the largest intact Roman structure outside of Rome. In 1986, the Aula Palatina was included with the set of historically important buildings in Trier inscribed as World Heritage Site. Today, the structure is in full use as Protestant church.

*Interior, facing east towards the altar (0.5x).*

*Interior, near the altar facing west to the church organ (0.5x). This single-room building as 4th-century imperial throne palace.*

*Palatinate Hall, a.k.a. Constantine Basilica (1x).*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 18 May 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T09 Völklingen Ironworks, World Heritage

E08, outside Saarbrücken

The massive industrial facility providing wealth, economic growth, and stability in the bilingual Saar region went from a duration of many decades, to a new form of sustainability including art and museum space, as well as an industrial park to highlight its 1994 inscription as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site covers an area of almost 7.5 hectares (185 acres).

*The ironworks, located to the southwest of Völklingen train station.*

*“Kunstfabrik” (art factory), by jaume, 2022.*

“*Tenemos miedo a las nubes”, by e1000 (2024) for Urban Art Biennale.*

*“Black is beautiful!”, by Jef Aérosol (2014), for Urban Art Biennale.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 16 May 2024. I received neither sponsor nor support from any organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T04 Darmstadt: fossil site Messel pit

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Located near the town of Messel outside of Darmstadt, about 20-minutes south from Frankfurt by train, the Grube Messel (Messel pit fossil site) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed since 1995. With perfect hindsight, it’s hard to believe people once wanted to use the pit as a garbage dump. Most fossils found thus far are dated to an age of about 48 million years (48 Ma, middle Eocene).

*Near-complete fossil of equine-predecessor “propalaeotherium voigti” (c. 48 Ma). The size is comparable to a small present-day dog.*

*Fossil of possibly world’s earliest python: “messelopython freyi” (c. 48 Ma). The fossil itself is comparable to an adult human hand.*

*About 60 metres (200 feet) deep and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide, the pit area remains an active archaeological site.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 11 May 2024. I received neither sponsor nor support from any organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

24T03 Darmstadt: gutsy city, Mathildenhöhe

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In Darmstadt about 20-minutes south from Frankfurt by train, the Mathildenhöhe (Mathilda Heights) Artists’ Colony is a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed since 2021. Pictured in afternoon light: at left, the Wedding Tower by J.M. Olbrich in 1908; at right, the Russian Chapel by L.N. Benois in 1899; and at lower-centre, the Lily Basin by A. Müller in 1914.

I made the image above with an iPhone15 on 10 May 2024. I received neither sponsor nor support from any organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Worms: Holy Sand, Europe’s oldest surviving Jewish cemetery

I’m looking for a “thousand-year history” in the city of Worms located in southwest Germany. This has nothing to do helminthology or nematology, as the town’s name is derived from “Warmaisa”, the former Jewish name of the city. This is about an important part of Jewish-German history and peaceful coexistence of the Judeo-Christian communities within Europe. The town’s fame and reputation is also partly derived from Martin Luther; I’ve already visited the site where Luther was on trial to answer charges of heresy, as well as the world’s largest Reformation monument.

This part of the Rhein river area is considered the “cradle of European Jewry”, known also as “little Jerusalem on the Rhine.” In medieval times, flourishing Jewish communities in the cathedral cities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz facilitated the creation of a common Jewish league with the name ShUM (SchUM), spelled out by the first letters of the Hebrew names for the three cities. As emphasis on the influence of Jewish heritage in Europe and the ongoing process of preservation and education, the Holy Sand cemetery is one of four constituents in the newly inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site (2021).

On a breezy late-autumn afternoon, light fades quick, casting solemn shadows on this ground. In the town’s old Jewish cemetery, I’m the only person present, and I’ve placed a small stone on top of a number of gravestones. I’m surrounded by apparitions over an millennium’s age and by the remaining physical traces in various shapes, stones, and size.

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