World Heritage in Belgium

The World Heritage in Belgium (as of 2018) includes thirteen UNESCO World Heritage sites , including twelve World Cultural Heritage sites and one World Natural Heritage site. Belgium ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1996, and the first three World Heritage sites were added to the World Heritage List in 1998. The last World Heritage site to date was registered in 2017.

World heritage sites

The following table lists the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Belgium in chronological order according to the year of their inclusion on the World Heritage List (K - cultural heritage, N - natural heritage, K / N - mixed, (R) - on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger ).

 Map with all coordinates of the World Heritage Sites: OSM

image	designation	year	Type	Ref.	description
(more pictures)	Flemish beguinages	1998	K	855	Beguines and Begarden were members of a Christian community who lived together in a monastery-like community. The 26 courtyards still preserved in Flanders are examples of the typical building ensembles.
(more pictures)	Canals du Center boat lifts ( location )	1998	K	856	The Canal du Center connects the Canal Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes with the Canal Charleroi-Brussels . The height difference to be overcome in the course of the route was a particular obstacle at the time of construction. The ship lifts built for this purpose and still largely preserved in their original state were built between 1882 and 1917.
(more pictures)	The Great Square (Grote Markt / Grand 'Place) in Brussels ( location )	1998	K	857	The Grand Place was built in the 11th century and is now the historic center of Brussels . Originally, the square was a colorful mix of styles from the 15th to 17th centuries. After its destruction in 1695, the city council gave it its current, closed baroque facade for the subsequent redevelopment.
(more pictures)	Belfries in Belgium and France	1999	K	943	Belfries were mainly created during the Gothic period and are tall, slender bell towers typical of Flemish (and northern French) cities.
(more pictures)	Old town of Bruges ( location )	2000	K	996	The medieval old town is almost completely preserved.
(more pictures)	Art Nouveau buildings by Victor Horta in Brussels ( location )	2000	K	1005	Victor Horta was a Belgian Art Nouveau architect who caused an international stir at the end of the 19th century for the novelty of his houses.
(more pictures)	Neolithic flint mines near Spiennes ( Lage )	2000	K	1006	The flint mines near Spiennes originated in the Neolithic and are the largest in Europe. Their shafts are about 15 meters deep.
(more pictures)	Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai ( location )	2000	K	1009	The construction of the cathedral began in 1110 in the Romanesque style. As a result of later renovations, the church is not entirely in the Romanesque style, but partly in the early Gothic style. Due to the resulting overall impression, it is one of the most beautiful cultural and historical monuments in Western Europe and has therefore been included in the World Heritage List.
(more pictures)	Plantin-Moretus-Museum ( location )	2005	K	1185	The museum goes back to a printing company founded in 1555 and is the only surviving book printing company from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
(more pictures)	Palais Stoclet ( location )	2009	K	1285	The Palais Stoclet is a private villa by the architect Josef Hoffmann , which was built between 1905 and 1911 in Brussels for the banker and art lover Adolphe Stoclet . As Hoffman's masterpiece, the Palais Stoclet is one of the most refined and luxurious private homes of the 20th century.
(more pictures)	Significant places in Walloon mining	2012	K	1344	The world heritage includes the Grand Hornu ( Lage ) , Bois-du-Luc ( Lage ) , Bois du Cazier ( Lage ) and Blegny ( Lage ) coal mines in the Walloon coalfield from the industrial revolution. The four pits stretch across Belgium on a strip from east to west and are the best preserved mines from the 19th and 20th centuries in Belgium.
Maison Guiette in Antwerp	The architectural work of Le Corbusier - an outstanding contribution to the "modern movement" ( location )	2016	K	1321	17 buildings by the architect Le Corbusier were added to the list. One of the buildings, the Maison Guiette, is located in Belgium, the rest in Switzerland , Argentina , France , Germany , India and Japan . The buildings show the solutions that modernity offered in the 20th century for the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques in order to meet the needs of society.
(more pictures)	Old beech forests and primeval beech forests of the Carpathian Mountains and other regions of Europe ( location )	2017	N	1133	Transnational World Heritage with Albania, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine. In Belgium this includes the Sonian Forest .

Tentative list

The sites that are intended for nomination for inclusion in the World Heritage List are entered in the tentative list .

Current World Heritage candidates

As of April 2019, 18 sites are registered in Belgium's tentative list. The following table lists the sites in chronological order according to the year of their inclusion in the tentative list.

image	designation	year	Type	Ref.	description
	Historical medieval city center of Ghent ("la Cuve") and the two abbeys of its origin	2002	K	856
	Historic city center of Antwerp - from the Scheldt to the old city wall from the 13th century	2002	K	857
	University building of Leuven, the legacy of six centuries in the historic center	2002	K	1712	Buildings of the old university , the imperial university , the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Université catholique de Louvain .
	The shopping arcades of Brussels / Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert	2008	K	5355
Villa Bloemenwerf	The architectural work of Henry van de Velde	2008	K	5356	Initially only comprising the Villa Bloemenwerf , built in 1895 , is to be expanded as a serial world heritage site; other buildings by Henry van de Velde are located in Germany and the Netherlands.
	Palace of Justice in Brussels	2008	K	5357
	High Fens plateau	2008	N	5358
	The section from Bavay to Tongeren of the Boulogne – Cologne Roman road in the Wallonia region	2008	K	5359
	Prince Episcopal Palace in Liege	2008	K	5361
	Waterloo battlefield, the end of the Napoleon epic	2008	K	5362
	Panoramic painting of the Battle of Waterloo, a particularly significant example of the "panoramic phenomenon".	2008	K	5364
Namur Citadel	Citadels on the Meuse	2008	K	5365	The three citadels of Dinant , Namur and Huy are nominated
	The rural-industrial transition landscape Hoge Kempen	2011	K	5623	Cultural landscape around the Hoge Kempen National Park
	Colonies of Weldadigheid	2013	K	5841	Colony Merksplas and Colony Wortel, agricultural Pauper colonies of the Maatschappij van Weldadigheid (Society of Charity)
	Graves and memorials of the First World War (Western Front)	2014	K	5886	The transnational proposal together with France (Ref. 5884 ) contains 25 individual sites in Belgium, including the former separate proposal “ Westhoek and the adjacent regions”.
	Important health resorts in Europe	2014	K	5932	The transnational proposal together with Germany (Ref. 5934 ), France (Ref. 5931 ), Italy (Ref. 5928 ), Austria (Ref. 5930 ), Czech Republic (Ref. 5929 ) and the United Kingdom (Ref. 5935 ) includes in Belgium the spa town of Spa .
	Sites of fossil finds from Neanderthals	2019	K	6398	The proposal includes four fossil sites: Cave Schmerling , cave Scladina , caves of Goyet and Grotte de Spy , all in Wallonia.
	Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose - Lessines	2019	K	6399	It is a medieval hospital

Former World Heritage candidates

These sites were previously on the tentative list, but were withdrawn or rejected by UNESCO. Sites that are included in other entries on the tentative list or that are part of world heritage sites are not taken into account here.

image	designation	year	Type	Ref.	description
	Castle, gardens and rocks of Freÿr	1997-2008	K / N	862

Web links

Commons : World Heritage Sites in Belgium  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Belgium on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Belgium. In: whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed March 26, 2018 . 
2. ^ Tentative list of Belgium. In: whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed April 11, 2019 . 
3. ^ Former Tentative Sites of Belgium. In: World Heritage Site. Accessed March 26, 2018 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap