Zone historique de Willemstad, centre ville et port, Curaçao

Brève description

Zone historique de Willemstad, centre ville et port, Antilles néerlandaises

Justification d'inscription

Le Comité a décidé d'inscrire ce site sur la base des critères (ii), (iv) et (v). La zone historique de Willemstad est un ensemble colonial européen des Caraïbes dont la valeur et l'intégrité sont exceptionnelles. Elle illustre sur trois siècles la croissance organique d'une communauté pluriculturelle, conservant particulièrement bien des éléments significatifs issus des multiples courants dont la convergence a mené à sa création.

Description longue

The Historic Area of Willemstad is a European colonial ensemble in the Caribbean of outstanding value and integrity, which illustrates the organic growth of a multicultural community over three centuries and preserves to a high degree significant elements of the many strands that came together to create it. The urban structure and architecture of this area are both authentic examples of colonial town planning and architecture of the period of Dutch expansion. Its cultural and historical significance stems not only from its town planning and architectural qualities as a historic port town, but is also manifest beyond the local level.

Willemstad stands out for the diversity in the historical morphology of its four historic districts (Punda, Otrobanda, Pietermaai and Scharloo), separated by the open waters of a natural harbour. Each district has its own distinct urban morphology resulting from successive planning concepts, but they share a unique 'tropicalized' historical architecture of Dutch origin. This area consists of a core area of Sint Anna Bay and part of the Caribbean Sea, Punda and most of Otrobanda, and two transmission areas, consisting of the urban districts of Pietermaai, Scharloo and Kortijn.

In the core area the entrance to Sint Anna Bay is protected by fortifications on both sides - the Water Fort on the Punda side and the Rif Fort on the Otrobanda side. These defensive works are important and relatively well-preserved examples of contemporary fortifications, especially when taken with other surviving defensive works that lie outside the area.

The city's historical architecture is of a strikingly genuine and colourful European origin set in a tropical environment. Nothing like it can be found elsewhere in the Dutch West or East Indies. Punda represents a dense and compact historical urban structure, reflecting its origin as a fortified town surrounded by ramparts. Pietermaai and Scharloo enjoy the relative freedom of space resulting in an open layout of streets lined by detached and often quite luxurious dwellings, whereas Otrobanda features both an open compound layout and a dense alley structure.

The island society on Curaçao owes its origin to the expansion of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. After Spain had encroached upon the island in 1499 at the expense of its indigenous inhabitants, the Arawak Indians, the Dutch took possession of it in 1634, in the period of Dutch domination of trade and the seas, and the settlement was created by the Dutch West India Company. The development of Punda began with the construction of Fort Amsterdam, designed according to the old Dutch fortification system. The fort with its five bastions was a self-contained settlement, with its own church and water supply as well as the residence of the governor and barracks for the garrison. Within each of the settlements flanking the bay there is a waterfront square, and they are linked by the famous pontoon bridge erected in 1888, officially known as the Queen Emma Bridge but better known to the inhabitants as the 'Swinging Old Lady'. Apart from two brief British occupations, the island remained Dutch colonial territory until 1955, when the Netherlands Antilles acquired self-government within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Willemstad is a typical port town, but one without a hinterland, which focused on the neighbouring Spanish, English and French colonies on the mainland of South America and in the Caribbean. Frequent trade with South America led to an exchange of goods and the reciprocal adoption of cultural elements. Curaçao therefore has an Iberian tinge as a result of the settlement of Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 17th century. By 1730 the Jewish community represented 50% of the white population of Curaçao. African influences also entered the island, as Curaçao was a centre of the slave trade at one time.

Description historique

La société insulaire de Curaçao (qui couvre quelque 450 km2 ) doit son origine au développement de l'Europe aux 15ème et 16ème siècles. Après l'appropriation de l'île par l'Espagne en 1499, aux dépens de ses habitants autochtones (les Indiens Arawak), les Hollandais en prennent possession en 1634, à l'époque de la domination commerciale et maritime hollandaise, et l'établissement est fondé par la Compagnie hollandaise des Indes occidentales (West-Jndische Compagnie - WIC). Outre deux brèves occupations britanniques (1800-1803 et 1807- 1816), l'île garde son statut de territoire colonial hollandais jusqu'en 1955, année où les Antilles néerlandaises se voient dotées d'un gouvernement autonome dans le cadre du Royaume des Pays-Bas.

Willemstad est une ville portuaire typique mais sans arrière-pays, qui s'est focalisée sur les colonies voisines espagnole, anglaise et française du continent d'Amérique du Sud et des Caraïbes. La fréquence du commerce avec l'Amérique du Sud (le Main Espagnol) conduit non seulement à un échange de produits mais également à l'adoption réciproque d'éléments culturels. Curaçao est ainsi imprégné des nuances ibériques qui résultent principalement de l'établissement de juifs séfarades d'Espagne et du Portugal, arrivés au 17ème siècle via Amsterdam. En 1730, la communauté juive représente 50% de la population blanche de Curaçao. Des influences africaines marquent également leur empreinte sur l'ile étant donné que Curaçao fut à une certaine époque un centre du commerce des esclaves.

La ville se développe sur les deux rives de Sint Anna Bay, laquelle forme le havre étroit vers la baie intérieure protégée de Schottegat ; toutes deux sont d'excellents ports en eaux profondes. Connu sous le nom de Punda, un établissement commence à se former du côté est au 17ème siècle. Au début du 18ème siècle, Otrobanda se développe à l'ouest et un peu plus tard autour du Waaigat, le golfe intérieur situé derrière une péninsule allongée faisant face aux Caraïbes.

Suite au départ de la plupart des membres les plus prospères de la communauté, la ville historique connaît un certain déclin dans la seconde moitié du 20ème siècle. Cette tendance est à présent stoppée et se trouve inversée.