World Heritage Committee threatens to remove Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany) from World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee decided Tuesday to place the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley on the List of World Heritage in Dangerwith a view to avert plans by the municipality of Dresden to build a bridge over the Elbe on the site.

The Committee decided that plans to build a bridge across the Elbe would have such a serious impact on the integrity of property's landscape that it may no longer deserve to be on the World Heritage List. It therefore decided to inscribe Dresden Elbe Valley on the List of World Heritage in Danger "with a view to also consider, in a prudent manner, delisting the site from the World Heritage List in 2007 if the plans are carried through."

The 18-km long property is an outstanding cultural landscape that integrates the celebrated baroque setting and suburban garden city into an artistic whole within the river valley. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004.

No site has ever been struck off the World Heritage List which numbers 812 properties declared to be of outstanding universal value in terms of UNESCO's 1972 World Heritage Convention.