Property: The Loire Valley between Sully-sur- Loire and Chalonnes
Id. N°: 933
State Party: France
Criteria: C (i) (ii) (iv)
The Committee decided to inscribe this property on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii) and (iv):
Criterion (ii): The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape along a major river which bears witness to an interchange of human values and to a harmonious development of interactions between human beings and their environment over two millennia.
Criterion (iv): The landscape of the Loire Valley, and more particularly its many cultural monuments, illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the Renaissance and the Age of the Enlightenment on western European thought and design.
Chambord has been inscribed on the World Heritage List on the basis of criterion (i) alone. The revised State Party nomination incorporated this property into the cultural landscape of the Loire Valley. The Committee decided that criterion (i) is also applicable to this new inscription.
Criterion (i): The Loire Valley is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours, but in particular in its world-famous castles, such as the Château de Chambord.
Members of the Committee commended the State Party for taking into account the recommendations of the Bureau.