List of industrial World Heritage Sites

Levant Mine, part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, designated in 2006.
Levant Mine, part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, designated in 2006.
Levant Mine, part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, designated in 2006.
Levant Mine, part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, designated in 2006.

45 industrial heritage sites, centres and lanscapes have been designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1978.

44 currently hold WHS designation as Dresden Elbe Valley, Germany, was delisted in 2009, having only achieved designation in 2004.

Liverpool Mercantile Maritime City is currently on UNESCO’s danger list.

I am in the process of revising a paper I gave in 2011 on how people’s perceptions of industrial heritage are shaped, using copper as a theme. Starting with a global perspective, I have been counting those that are designated World Heritage Sites. I wanted to share the list for interest. I have included sites related to transportation and communication, urban sites with a substantial representation of historical commerce, and those bearing testimony to pre-modern industry. Those highlighted relate to copper.

Please leave a comment to me know whether I have left any out. 

  1. Semmering Railway, Austria (1998).
  2. Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy, Bahrain (2012).
  3. The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La Louvière and Le Roeulx (Hainaut), Belgium (1998).
  4. Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons), Belgium (2000).
  5. Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, Belgium, (2012).
  6. Historic Town of Ouro Preto, Brazil (1980).
  7. Rideau Canal, Canada (2007).
  8. Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaíso, Chile (2003).
  9. Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Chile (2005).
  10. Sewell Mining Town, Chile (2006).
  11. Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia (2011).
  12. From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the Production of Open-pan Salt, France (1982, extended 2009).
  13. Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct), France (1985).
  14. Canal du Midi, France (1996).
  15. Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, France (2012).
  16. Hanseatic City of Lübeck, Germany (1987).
  17. Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System, Germany (1992, extended 2010).
  18. Völklingen Ironworks, Germany (1994).
  19. Dresden Elbe Valley, Germany (2004, delisted 2009).
  20. Fagus Factory in Alfeld, Germany (2011).
  21. Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, Italy, Switzerland (2008).
  22. Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape, Japan (2007).
  23. Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines, Mexico (1988).
  24. Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila, Mexico (2006).
  25. Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout, Netherlands (1997).
  26. Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal (D.F. Wouda Steam Pumping Station), Netherlands (1998).
  27. Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht, Netherlands (2010).
  28. Røros Mining Town and the Circumference, Norway (1980, extended 2010).
  29. Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman (2006).
  30. Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland (1978).
  31. Historic Town of Banská Štiavnica and the Technical Monuments in its Vicinity, Slovakia (1993).
  32. Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija, Slovenia and Spain (2012).
  33. Vizcaya Bridge, Spain (2006).
  34. Engelsberg Ironwoks, Sweden (1993).
  35. Hanseatic Town of Visby, Sweden (1995).
  36. Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun, Sweden (2001).
  37. La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle, Watchmaking Town Planning, Switzerland (2009).
  38. Ironbridge Gorge, England, UK (1986).
  39. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, Wales, UK (2000).
  40. Derwent Valley Mills, England, UK (2001).
  41. New Lanark, Scotland, UK (2001).
  42. Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City, England, UK (2004).
  43. Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, UK (2006).
  44. Pontcysyllte Aquaduct and Canal, Wales, UK (2009).
  45. Saltaire, England, UK (2001).