In 2011, the UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes has been awarded jointly to Battir Cultural Landscape (Palestine) and the Museum-Reservation of Garni (Armenia).
The Battir Cultural Landscape (Battir Village and its surroundings, State of Palestine) testifies to 4000 years of the terraced cultivation of vines and olives. Home to 1150 people, of whom 350 live in the village of Husan, the landscape also features walled terraces, irrigation canals, watchtowers and other dry stone edifices. The site is recognized for its great aesthetic and symbolic value. The jury particularly emphasized action undertaken to stabilize the traditional agricultural use of the landscape in cooperation with local farmers and the adoption of protection legislation and a sound management plan. Battir is part of a larger area, which was inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2014 as Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir on the basis of criterie (iv) and (v).
The Museum-Reservation of Garni covers a total area of 5.1 hectares in and around Garni Village, some 28 km East of Yerevan in the volcanic Armenia plateau of the Caucasus Mountains. It features a series of historical and architectural vestiges and buildings from the Bronze Age (Cyclopean walls) to Hellenic times (temples, bath-house), as well as early Christian elements.
The site has been recognized for the measures taken to preserve its cultural vestiges, and for the emphasis placed on efforts to interpret and open the site for national and international visitors. The Jury also praised the integration of this work into the lives of local communities, encouraging social and economic development. Part of the site was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as The Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley in 2000.
