The Candidature for Augsburg World Heritage

UNESCO World Heritage Sites are outstanding testimonials to human history and to the history of the natural world. In 1978 the World Heritage organization began with a list of 12 sites. Over the years magnificent monuments such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Great Wall of China were added to the list. In Germany, unique cities like the old town of Bamberg, the breathtaking cathedrals in Aachen and in Cologne as well as important industrial structures like the “Zollverein” coal mines in Essen belong to the exclusive family of World Heritage sites. The sites encompass 1,223 objects in 168 countries around the globe. Germany currently has 54 of these extraordinary places, 10 of those are in Bavaria.

The city of Augsburg has applied for World Heritage status with its water management system, which is unique worldwide. On the basis of the research in various scientific works, the city expressed interest in becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.

Until 2014 the process went quickly through the list of Bavarian candidates. In that year experts from the cultural affairs conference put Augsburg and its water management system in third place on the list of recommended German World Heritage site candidates.

The next important step was to attract UNESCO World Heritage site experts to draft the application. In addition, the city established an official office exclusively for the UNESCO candidature. In the beginning of 2018 the crucial phase of the application process began. This culminated in the timely submission of an over 800 page application with extensive maps and detailed data to the UNESCO World Heritage center in Paris on February 1, 2018. This docume was subsequently assessed and evaluated by World Heritage experts. On 06.07.2019 Augsburg was registered with it's water management system in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Five areas form a complex water management system in Augsburg with significant technical, architectural and industrial archaeological monuments from the 15th to the early 20th century - the 22 objects. To protect this unique system and make it visible to the whole world, the city has applied for the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The nomination area is defined by the watercourses & canals as the most important parts of the water management system. The canals run from south to north in an extension of more than 20 kilometres, their total length is about 200 kilometres. They were built before 1276, when the Vorderer, Mittlerer and Hinterer Lech rivers were first mentioned in writing, until the Eiskanal was converted into a canoe route in 1972. The outlets from the Lech and Wertach rivers, also called Anstiche, as well as the Singold and the springs of the Stadtwald provided the water for these canals. Most of the canals still follow their original course and have not changed their position over the centuries. However, the canal enclosures often had to be repaired due to their stress, for which different materials were used. Hydrotechnical facilities and installations such as hydraulic structures, drinking water plants and power plants belong directly to the canals, are arranged above them, so to speak, and are thus also part of the nomination area. In the area of the Lechviertel and Maximilianstraße, the nomination area is partially widened to include the buildings, monumental fountains and waterworks belonging to the water system.

Initial thoughts about a city application for the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site matured into a concrete vision in 2010: the unique water system and water art should elevate Augsburg to the rank of a World Heritage Site. From then on, everything happened very quickly. Here is the chronology of the application in the most important steps: