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Proposals for extensions to the UNESCO Val de Loire – World Heritage site

Proposals for extensions to the UNESCO Val de Loire – World Heritage site

Published on 12 July 2005 - Updated 22 December 2010
Cet article date d'il y a plus de 18 ans

Loire Valley quality label, Mission Val de Loire

The Val de Loire has been included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites since 30 September 2000 with the status of living cultural landscape. The site is the largest listed site in France, stretching 175 miles along the river from Sully-sur-Loire (Loiret) to Chalonnes-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire) and covering more than 300 square miles and 1.2 million inhabitants.

The World Heritage committee decided at the 22 ^nd session in 1998 to invite participating states (States Parties) to present periodic reports relating to the state of conservation of World Heritage properties situated in their territory. These reports, presented every 6 years, are examined on a regional basis. For the years 2005-6 they are focused on Europe and North America and will be studied by the World Heritage committee in its 2006 session.

The presentation of the reports gives the listed sites an opportunity to propose changes to the area they cover.

The Val de Loire Territorial Conference which met on Feb 25 2005, expressed a wish for an expert enquiry to explore any possible changes to the area which includes the Val de Loire - World Heritage site. This enquiry took place between June 20 – June 22, 2005

In the coming weeks a report will go to the Ministers concerned (Culture and Communication; Ecology and Sustainable Development) who are to decide on which proposals will be presented to the World Heritage Centre.

With this in view and at the proposal of the Prefect of the Centre region (who is the coordinator of the Plan Loire Grandeur Nature - an environmental management plan for the river) the Territorial Conference of July 5 2005 is proposing to include in the report the following requests:

In Centre region :
- The site of the aqueduct of Briare, as well as the associated site, Mantelots, both of which are particularly representative of the history of the navigation of the river Loire. This could be linked to the World Heritage site by the river or by a buffer zone, the actual method is yet to be decided.
- The site of the château of Chenonceau, a jewel of Renaissance architecture which is intimately involved in European history, to be linked to the existing listed site by the course of the river Cher and its workings (needle dams, lock keepers’ houses)

In the Pays de la Loire region :
- The site of the château of Angers, cradle of the Plantagenets who ordered the building of defence dikes to protect those who lived along the banks of the river Loire from its flood waters. This site would be linked by the minor course of the river Maine