Belgium requests Unesco heritage status for First World War sites

The governments of Flanders and Wallonia have applied for Unesco world heritage status for 26 First World War cemeteries and other sites. The sites form part of a joint application for Unesco recognition submitted by Flanders, Wallonia and France.

Flanders minister-president Geert Bourgeois said First World War sites were an important part of the commemoration of the centenary of the war, which will culminate in the 100th anniversary of Armistice in 2018. “Recognition as Unesco world heritage would be the icing on the cake of the commemoration of the Great War,” he said. “That recognition would be an appropriate and lasting memorial, beyond 2018, of what happened here in our Flanders fields.”

The burial sites and monuments, he said, have a number of special characteristics. Their creation was the first time ever that all of the fallen were treated equally, regardless of rank or nationality. The dead were buried individually, and the missing commemorated on monuments like the Menin Gate in Ypres.

A great deal of attention was also paid, Bourgeois said, to the architecture and landscape of First World War cemeteries, and have become places of reflection as a result.

Among the 19 sites in Flanders chosen for the Unesco application are the Tyne Cot (pictured), Essex Farm and Bedford House cemeteries, the Langemark and Vladslo German military cemeteries, the Nieuwpoort Memorial, the Irish Peace Tower at Poperinge and the Menin Gate.

Wallonia provided a list of seven sites, and France requested recognition for 66 sites. Unesco will study the application, with a decision expected at the annual meeting of its world heritage committee in the summer of 2018.

Photo: Milo-profi/Visit Flanders