Chartres Cathedral
Partly built starting in 1145, and then reconstructed over a 26-year period after the fire of 1194, Chartres Cathedral marks the high point of French Gothic art. The vast nave, in pure ogival style, the porches adorned with fine sculptures from the middle of the 12th century, and the magnificent 12th- and 13th-century stained-glass windows, all in remarkable condition, combine to make it a masterpiece.
Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay
Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stand the 'Wonder of the West', a Gothic-style Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael, and the village that grew up in the shadow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic tour de force, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site.
Palace and Park of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles was the principal residence of the French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. Embellished by several generations of architects, sculptors, decorators and landscape architects, it provided Europe with a model of the ideal royal residence for over a century.
Vézelay, Church and Hill
Shortly after its foundation in the 9th century, the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay acquired the relics of St Mary Magdalene and since then it has been an important place of pilgrimage. St Bernard preached the Second Crusade there in 1146 and Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip II Augustus met there to leave for the Third Crusade in 1190. With its sculpted capitals and portal, the Madeleine of Vézelay – a 12th-century monastic church – is a masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture.
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens Cathedral, in the heart of Picardy, is one of the largest 'classic' Gothic churches of the 13th century. It is notable for the coherence of its plan, the beauty of its three-tier interior elevation and the particularly fine display of sculptures on the principal facade and in the south transept.
Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments
Arles is a good example of the adaptation of an ancient city to medieval European civilization. It has some impressive Roman monuments, of which the earliest – the arena, the Roman theatre and the cryptoporticus (subterranean galleries) – date back to the 1st century B.C. During the 4th century Arles experienced a second golden age, as attested by the baths of Constantine and the necropolis of Alyscamps. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Arles once again became one of the most attractive cities in the Mediterranean. Within the city walls, Saint-Trophime, with its cloister, is one of Provence's major Romanesque monuments.
Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange
Situated in the Rhone valley, the ancient theatre of Orange, with its 103-m-long facade, is one of the best preserved of all the great Roman theatres. Built between A.D. 10 and 25, the Roman arch is one of the most beautiful and interesting surviving examples of a provincial triumphal arch from the reign of Augustus. It is decorated with low reliefs commemorating the establishment of the Pax Romana.
From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the Production of Open-pan Salt
The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, near Besançon, was built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux. Its construction, begun in 1775 during the reign of Louis XVI, was the first major achievement of industrial architecture, reflecting the ideal of progress of the Enlightenment. The vast, semicircular complex was designed to permit a rational and hierarchical organization of work and was to have been followed by the building of an ideal city, a project that was never realized.The Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains was active for at least 1200 years until stopping activity in 1962. From 1780 to 1895, its salt water travelled through 21 km of wood pipes to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans. It was built near the immense Chaux Forest to ensure its supply of wood for fuel. The Saltworks of Salins shelters an underground gallery from the 13th century including a hydraulic pump from the 19th century that still functions. The boiler house demonstrates the difficulty of the saltworkers’ labour to collect the “White Gold”.
Abbey Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe
Known as the 'Romanesque Sistine Chapel', the Abbey-Church
of Saint-Savin contains many beautiful 11th- and 12th-century murals
which are still in a remarkable state of preservation.
Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve
The nature reserve, which is part of the Regional Natural Park of Corsica, occupies the Scandola peninsula, an impressive, porphyritic rock mass. The vegetation is an outstanding example of scrubland. Seagulls, cormorants and sea eagles can be found there. The clear waters, with their islets and inaccessible caves, host a rich marine life.
Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d'Alliance in Nancy
Nancy, the temporary residence of a king without a kingdom – Stanislas Leszczynski, later to become Duke of Lorraine – is paradoxically the oldest and most typical example of a modern capital where an enlightened monarch proved to be sensitive to the needs of the public. Built between 1752 and 1756 by a brilliant team led by the architect Héré, this was a carefully conceived project that succeeded in creating a capital that not only enhanced the sovereign's prestige but was also functional.
Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)
The Pont du Gard was built shortly before the Christian era to allow the aqueduct of Nîmes (which is almost 50 km long) to cross the Gard river. The Roman architects and hydraulic engineers who designed this bridge, which stands almost 50 m high and is on three levels – the longest measuring 275 m – created a technical as well as an artistic masterpiece.
Strasbourg – Grande île
Surrounded by two arms of the River Ill, the Grande Ile (Big Island) is the historic centre of the Alsatian capital. It has an outstanding complex of monuments within a fairly small area. The cathedral, the four ancient churches and the Palais Rohan – former residence of the prince-bishops – far from appearing as isolated monuments, form a district that is characteristic of a medieval town and illustrates Strasbourg's evolution from the 15th to the 18th century.
Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and Palace of Tau, Reims
The outstanding handling of new architectural techniques in the 13th century, and the harmonious marriage of sculptural decoration with architecture, has made Notre-Dame in Reims one of the masterpieces of Gothic art. The former abbey still has its beautiful 9th-century nave, in which lie the remains of Archbishop St Rémi (440–533), who instituted the Holy Anointing of the kings of France. The former archiepiscopal palace known as the Tau Palace, which played an important role in religious ceremonies, was almost entirely rebuilt in the 17th century.
Paris, Banks of the Seine
From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, from the Place de la Concorde to the Grand and Petit Palais, the evolution of Paris and its history can be seen from the River Seine. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle are architectural masterpieces while Haussmann's wide squares and boulevards influenced late 19th- and 20th-century town planning the world over.
Bourges Cathedral
Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge
In the 14th century, this city in the South of France was the seat of the papacy. The Palais des Papes, an austere-looking fortress lavishly decorated by Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti, dominates the city, the surrounding ramparts and the remains of a 12th-century bridge over the Rhone. Beneath this outstanding example of Gothic architecture, the Petit Palais and the Romanesque Cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms complete an exceptional group of monuments that testify to the leading role played by Avignon in 14th-century Christian Europe.
Canal du Midi
This 360-km network of navigable waterways linking the Mediterranean and the Atlantic through 328 structures (locks, aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, etc.) is one of the most remarkable feats of civil engineering in modern times. Built between 1667 and 1694, it paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. The care that its creator, Pierre-Paul Riquet, took in the design and the way it blends with its surroundings turned a technical achievement into a work of art.
Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne
Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified settlement has existed on the hill where Carcassonne now stands. In its present form it is an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town, with its massive defences encircling the castle and the surrounding buildings, its streets and its fine Gothic cathedral. Carcassonne is also of exceptional importance because of the lengthy restoration campaign undertaken by Viollet-le-Duc, one of the founders of the modern science of conservation.
Historic Site of Lyons
The long history of Lyons, which was founded by the Romans in the 1st century B.C. as the capital of the Three Gauls and has continued to play a major role in Europe's political, cultural and economic development ever since, is vividly illustrated by its urban fabric and the many fine historic buildings from all periods.
Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
Santiago de Compostela was the supreme goal for countless thousands of pious pilgrims who converged there from all over Europe throughout the Middle Ages. To reach Spain pilgrims had to pass through France, and the group of important historical monuments included in this inscription marks out the four routes by which they did so.
Situated in the narrow valley of the Gellone river where it meets the steep sided gorge of the Herault Rver, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is essentially a medieval village located on the Chemin de St Jacques pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostella.
Belfries of Belgium and France
Twenty-three belfries in the north of France and
the belfry of Gembloux in Belgium were inscribed as a group, an
extension to the 32 Belgian belfries inscribed in 1999 as Belfries of
Flanders and Wallonia. Built between the 11th and 17th centuries, they
showcase the Roman, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles of
architecture. They are highly significant tokens of the winning of civil
liberties. While Italian, German and English towns mainly opted to
build town halls, in part of north-western Europe, greater emphasis was
placed on building belfries. Compared with the keep (symbol of the
seigneurs) and the bell-tower (symbol of the Church), the belfry, the
third tower in the urban landscape, symbolizes the power of the
aldermen. Over the centuries, they came to represent the influence and
wealth of the towns.
List of Belfries:
- Armentières Belfry of the City Hall
- Bailleul Belfry of the City Hall
- Bergues Belfry
- Cambrai Belfry of the St. Martin's Church
- Comines Belfry of the City Hall
- Douai Belfry of the City Hall
- Dunkirk Belfry of the City Hall
- Dunkirk Belfry of Dunkirk
- Gravelines Belfry
- Lille Belfry of the City Hall
- Loos Belfry of the City Hall
- Aire-sur-la-Lys Belfry of the City Hall
- Arras Belfry of the City Hall
- Béthune Belfry
- Boulogne-sur-Mer Belfry of the City Hall
- Calais Belfry of the City Hall
- Hesdin Belfry of the City Hall
- Abbeville Belfry
- Amiens Belfry
- Doullens Belfry of the former Municipal Hall, at present the tourist information center
- Lucheux Belfry on the remaining City GateRue Belfry
- Saint-Riquier Belfry
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Viticulture was introduced to this fertile region of Aquitaine by the Romans, and intensified in the Middle Ages. The Saint-Emilion area benefited from its location on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and many churches, monasteries and hospices were built there from the 11th century onwards. It was granted the special status of a 'jurisdiction' during the period of English rule in the 12th century. It is an exceptional landscape devoted entirely to wine-growing, with many fine historic monuments in its towns and villages.
The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes
The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty, containing historic towns and villages, great architectural monuments (the châteaux), and cultivated lands formed by many centuries of interaction between their population and the physical environment, primarily the river Loire itself.
- Sully - sur - Loire
- Azay - le - Rideau
- Chateau d'Angers
Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs
The fortified medieval town of Provins is situated in the former territory of the powerful Counts of Champagne. It bears witness to early developments in the organization of international trading fairs and the wool industry. The urban structure of Provins, which was built specifically to host the fairs and related activities, has been well preserved.
Bordeaux, Port of the Moon
The Port of the Moon, port city of Bordeaux in south-west France, is inscribed as an inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the first half of the 20th century, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris. It is also recognized for its historic role as a place of exchange of cultural values over more than 2,000 years, particularly since the 12th century due to commercial links with Britain and the Low Lands. Urban plans and architectural ensembles of the early 18th century onwards place the city as an outstanding example of innovative classical and neoclassical trends and give it an exceptional urban and architectural unity and coherence. Its urban form represents the success of philosophers who wanted to make towns into melting pots of humanism, universality and culture.
Fortifications of Vauban
Fortifications of Vauban consists of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the western, northern and eastern borders of France. They represent the finest examples of the work of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), a military engineer of King Louis XIV. The serial property includes towns built from scratch by Vauban, citadels, urban bastion walls and bastion towers. There are also mountain forts, sea forts, a mountain battery and two mountain communication structures. This property is inscribed as bearing witness to the peak of classic fortifications, typical of western military architecture. Vauban also played a major role in the history of fortification in Europe and on other continents until the mid-19th century.- Arras, Pas-de-Calais: citadel
- Besancon, Doubs: citadel, city walls and Fort Griffon
- Blaye-Cussac-Fort-Medoc, Gironde: citadel of Blaye, city walls, Fort Paté and Fort Médoc
- Briancon, Hautes-Alpes: city walls, Redoute des Salettes, Fort des Trois-Tetes, Fort du Randouillet, ouvrage de la communication Y and the Asfeld Bridge
- Camaret-sur-Mer, Finistere: Tour doree aka.Tour Vauban
- Longwy, Meurthe-et-Moselle: ville neuve
- Mont-Dauphin, Hautes-Alpes: place forte
- Mont-Louis, Pyrenees-Oreintales: citadel and city walls
- Neuf-Brisach, Haut-Rhin: ville neuvel Breisach: gateway of the Rhine
- Saint-Martin-de-Re, Charente-Maritime: city wals and citadel
- Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue/Tatihou, Manche: watchtowers
- Villefranche-de-Conflent, Pyrenees-Orientales: city walls, Fort Liberia and Cova Bastera
Episcopal City of Albi
On the banks of the Tarn river in south-west France, the old city of Albi reflects the culmination of a medieval architectural and urban ensemble. Today the Old Bridge (Pont-Vieux), the Saint-Salvi quarter and its church are testimony to its initial development (10th -11th centuries). Following the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics (13th century) it became a powerful episcopal city. Built in a unique southern French Gothic style from local brick in characteristic red and orange colours, the lofty fortified Cathedral (late 13th century) dominates the city, demonstrating the power regained by the Roman Catholic clergy. Alongside the Cathedral is the vast bishop’s Palais de la Berbie, overlooking the river and surrounded by residential quarters that date back to the Middle Ages. The Episcopal City of Albi forms a coherent and homogeneous ensemble of monuments and quarters that has remained largely unchanged over the centuries.
Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin
Remarkable as a landscape shaped over three centuries of
coal extraction from the 1700s to the 1900s, the site consists of 109
separate components over 120,000 ha. It features mining pits (the oldest
of which dates from 1850) and lift infrastructure, slag heaps (some of
which cover 90 ha and exceed 140 m in height), coal transport
infrastructure, railway stations, workers’ estates and mining villages
including social habitat, schools, religious buildings, health and
community facilities, company premises, owners and managers’ houses,
town halls and more. The site bears testimony to the quest to create
model workers’ cities from the mid 19th century to the 1960s and further
illustrates a significant period in the history of industrial Europe.
It documents the living conditions of workers and the solidarity to
which it gave rise.
Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche
Located in a limestone plateau of the Ardèche River in southern France, the property contains the earliest-known and best-preserved figurative drawings in the world, dating back as early as the Aurignacian period (30,000–32,000 BP), making it an exceptional testimony of prehistoric art. The cave was closed off by a rock fall approximately 20,000 years BP and remained sealed until its discovery in 1994, which helped to keep it in pristine condition. Over 1,000 images have so far been inventoried on its walls, combining a variety of anthropomorphic and animal motifs. Of exceptional aesthetic quality, they demonstrate a range of techniques including the skilful use of shading, combinations of paint and engraving, anatomical precision, three-dimensionality and movement. They include several dangerous animal species difficult to observe at that time, such as mammoth, bear, cave lion, rhino, bison and auroch, as well as 4,000 inventoried remains of prehistoric fauna and a variety of human footprints.
The Climats, terroirs of Burgundy
The climates are precisely delimited vineyard parcels on
the slopes of the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune south of the city
of Dijon. They differ from one another due to specific natural
conditions (geology and exposure) as well as vine types and have been
shaped by human cultivation. Over time they came to be recognized by the
wine they produce. This cultural landscape consists of two parts.
Firstly, the vineyards and associated production units including
villages and the town of Beaune, which together represent the commercial
dimension of the production system. The second part includes the
historic centre of Dijon, which embodies the political regulatory
impetus that gave birth to the climats system. The site is an
outstanding example of grape cultivation and wine production developed
since the High Middle Ages.
BEAUNE Le musee des vins
Chaîne des Puys - Limagne fault tectonic arena
Situated in the centre of France, the property comprises the long Limagne fault, the alignments of the Chaîne des Puys volcanoes and the inverted relief of the Montagne de la Serre. It is an emblematic segment of the West European Rift, created in the aftermath of the formation of the Alps, 35 million years ago. The geological features of the property demonstrate how the continental crust cracks, then collapses, allowing deep magma to rise and cause uplifting at the surface. The property is an exceptional illustration of continental break-up – or rifting – which is one of the five major stages of plate tectonic.
Cordouan Lighthouse
The Lighthouse of Cordouan rises up on a shallow rocky plateau in the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Gironde estuary in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, in a highly exposed and hostile environment. Built in white limestone dressed blocks at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was designed by engineer Louis de Foix and remodelled by engineer Joseph Teulère in the late 18th century. A masterpiece of maritime signalling, Cordouan’s monumental tower is decorated with pilasters, columns modillions and gargoyles. It embodies the great stages of the architectural and technological history of lighthouses and was built with the ambition of continuing the tradition of famous beacons of antiquity, illustrating the art of building lighthouses in a period of renewed navigation, when beacons played an important role as territorial markers and as instruments of safety. Finally, the increase of its height, in the late 18th century, and the changes to its light chamber, attest to the progress of science and technology of the period. Its architectural forms drew inspiration from ancient models, Renaissance Mannerism and the specific architectural language of France’s engineering school École des Ponts et Chaussées.
Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera
Nice, located on the Mediterranean, at the foot of the Alps, near the Italian border, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, reflects the development of a city devoted to winter tourism, making the most of its mild climate and its coastal situation, between sea and mountains. From the mid-18th century, the site attracted growing numbers of aristocratic and upper-class families, mainly British, who developed the habit of spending their winters there. In 1832, Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, set up the “Consiglio d’Ornato” which drew up a city planning scheme and architectural requirements designed to make the city attractive to foreigners. Thus, the “Camin dei Ingles”, a modest path which had been created along the coastline by British winter visitors in 1824, subsequently became the prestigious Promenade des Anglais. After the city was ceded to France in 1860, and thanks to its connection to the European rail network, an increasing number of winter visitors from all countries flocked to the city. This led to successive phases of development of new districts beyond the medieval old town. The diverse cultural influences of the winter visitors and the desire to make the most of the weather conditions and the coastal landscape have shaped the urban development and eclectic architectural styles of these districts, contributing to Nice’s reputation as a cosmopolitan winter resort.
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