JOINT PRESS RELEASE BY AUSTRIA, GERMANY, SLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY

announced on 02.02.2018 in Budapest

The Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube Limes

World Heritage Nomination

2018

The four-country World Heritage nomination "Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Danube Limes" was submitted on schedule to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris on 1 February. For many years, scientists and ministry staff from Austria, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia worked together on this transnational nomination comprised of more than 2,300 pages.

During the greatest expansion of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD, its outer borders lay in three continents. This impressive reality reflects the power and organisational capabilities of one of the largest state structures in human history. The Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the Roman frontiers was first recognised by UNESCO in 1987 when Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain was inscribed on the World Heritage List. In 2005, UNESCO agreed to successively inscribe the entire Roman frontier system as a World Heritage Site under the term FRE (Frontiers of the Roman Empire) to express the idea of a single World Heritage Site thereby connecting continents with the inscribed and pre-nominated sections. Preparations for the extension of the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire (FRE)" were quickly initiated in various European countries; in 2005 and 2008 respectively, the Upper German-Raetian Limes (Germany) and the Antonine Wall (Great Britain) became part of the transnational World Heritage Site.

For centuries, Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia were important border provinces of the Roman Empire. The territory of these Roman provinces lies in what is today Bavaria, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. In 2011, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and its advisory institution ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) formulated new criteria for the nomination of transnational serial World Heritage sites. Subsequently, at the beginning of 2017, experts from the participating states drew up a thematic study ("The Frontiers of the Roman Empire - A Thematic Study and Proposed Strategy for World Heritage Nomination"), which considers the frontiers of the Roman Empire in their entirety. It was officially recognised by the World Heritage Committee in July last year (2021). In parallel, the specialists from the four aforementioned countries worked tirelessly throughout the previous year to compile the necessary information on the nominated sites in accordance with the numerous scientific, administrative and operational requirements in order to create a standardised nomination dossier "Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Danube Limes”.

The nomination dossier for this joint venture was finalised at the end of last year under the leadership of Austria. By mutual agreement, Hungary took over the responsibility for the printing of the three-volume dossier and the submission of the nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris.

The World Heritage nomination includes 164 sites at 98 locations along the 997 km long section of the Danube Limes between Bad Gögging in Germany and Kölked in Hungary. The evaluation process is expected to take a year and a half before the World Heritage Committee makes its - hopefully positive - decision at its 43rd session in the summer of 2019. In the future, the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Danube Limes" will form the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Cluster" network together with other parts of the Roman frontiers inscribed on the World Heritage List in Europe. This will also include sites in both the Middle East and North Africa.

Addition to Bavaria:

Nominated in close consultation with the correlating municipalities, the following nine sites comprising the “Danube Lime in Bavaria”, were included in the World Heritage nomination “Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Danube Limes”:

1. Bad Gögging – Spa (town of Neustadt on the Danube/Bad Gögging)

2. Eining-Weinberg – Watchtower and Sanctuary (town of Neustadt on the Danube/Eining)

3. Weltenburg-Am Galget – Fortlet (town of Kelkheim/Weltenburg)

4. Regensburg Großprüfening – Fort and Town (city of Regensburg)

5. Regensburg Kumpfmühl – Fort and Town (city of Regensburg)

6. Regensburg – Legionary Camp/Fort (city of Regensburg)

7. Straubing – East Fort and Fort of St. Peter (city of Straubing)

8. Künzing – Amphitheatre and Town (Künzing)

9. Passau Altstadt – Fort/Passau Boiotro – Fort/Passau Haibach – Fortified Watchtower (city of Passau)