Old Town Lunenburg
Old Town Lunenburg
Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The inhabitants have managed to safeguard the city's identity throughout the centuries by preserving the wooden architecture of the houses, some of which date from the 18th century.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Le Vieux Lunenburg
Le Vieux Lunenburg offre le meilleur exemple encore existant d'un établissement colonial britannique planifié en Amérique du Nord. Fondé en 1753, il conserve intacts sa structure d'origine, obéissant à un plan en damier conçu en métropole, ainsi que son aspect général. La population a su préserver l'identité de la ville au cours des siècles en sauvegardant l'architecture de bois de ses maisons, dont certaines datent du XVIIe siècle.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
مدينة لونينبورغ القديمة
تعطي مدينة لونينبورغ القديمة المثال الأفضل حتى اليوم عن مدينة مستعمرة بريطانية منظمة في أميركا الشمالية. تأسست في العام 1753 وهي لا تزال تحافظ على شكلها العام وهيكليتها الأصلية المطابقة لتخطيط على شكل مربّعات منسّقة تمّ تصميمه في البلد الأصلي. ولقد نجح سكان لونينبورغ القديمة في الحفاظ على هوية المدينة على مرّ العصور من خلال صون الهندسة الخشبية لبيوتها، ومنها ما يرقى إلى القرن السابع عشر.
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
卢嫩堡旧城
卢嫩堡是英国在北美规划的殖民地住区典范，建于1753年，有保存完好的原始布局和完整的外观，城市整体结构呈矩形，摹仿了英国本土的城市规划结构。几个世纪以来，当地居民尽量保持城市的特性，为此他们不遗余力地保留那些木结构的房屋，其中有些房屋的历史可追溯到18世纪。
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Исторический город Луненберг
Луненберг – это лучший из дошедших до наших дней примеров британских колониальных поселений в Северной Америке. Основанный в 1753 г., город сохранил свою первоначальную планировку и общий облик, определенный перпендикулярной решеткой улиц, проект которой был разработан в метрополии. Жителям удалось сберечь своеобразие города, сохранив архитектуру деревянных зданий, отдельные из которых были построены еще в XVIII в.
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Ciudad vieja de Lunenburgo
Lunenburgo es el mejor ejemplo existente de un asentamiento colonial brití¡nico planificado en América del Norte. Fundada en 1753, la ciudad conserva incólumes su aspecto general y su trazado primigenio en forma de damero, que fue diseñado en la metrópoli. La población ha sabido preservar la identidad de la ciudad a lo largo de los siglos, conservando la arquitectura de madera de sus viviendas, algunas de las cuales datan del siglo XVIII.
source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
ルーネンバーグ旧市街
カナダのノバ・スコシア州の大西洋岸に1753年建設された都市。北米におけるイギリス植民都市の代表的な例。イギリス本国とおなじような格子状に設計された町並みや景観がそのまま残っている。木造建築もよく保存され、その多くは19世紀の民家だが、18世紀のものも見られる。source: NFUAJ
Oude stad van Lunenburg
Lunenburg is het best bewaarde voorbeeld van een Britse koloniale nederzetting in Noord-Amerika. De oude stad werd in 1753 gesticht en heeft haar oorspronkelijke ontwerp en uitstraling behouden. Het ontwerp is gebaseerd op een rechthoekig rasterpatroon opgesteld in het land van herkomst (Groot-Brittannië). Door de zorg voor de houten huizenarchitectuur – waarvan sommige dateren uit de 18e eeuw – zijn de bewoners erin geslaagd om de identiteit van de stad veilig te stellen door de eeuwen heen. De economische basis van de stad is van oudsher de Atlantische visserij.
Source: unesco.nl
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
Old Town Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The inhabitants have safeguarded the town’s identity throughout the centuries by preserving the wooden architecture of the houses and public buildings, some of which date from the 18th century and constitute an excellent example of a sustained vernacular architectural tradition. Its economic basis has traditionally been the offshore Atlantic fishery, the future of which is highly questionable at the present time.
Criterion (iv): Old Town Lunenburg is a well-preserved example of 18th century British colonial urban planning, which has undergone no significant changes since its foundation, and which largely continues to fulfil the economic and social purposes for which it was designed. Of special importance is its diversified and well-preserved vernacular architectural tradition, which spans over 250 years.
Criterion (v): Old Town Lunenburg is an excellent example of an urban community and culture designed for and based on the offshore Atlantic fishery which is undergoing irreversible change and is evolving in a form that cannot yet be fully defined.
Integrity
Within the boundaries of the 33.85 ha property are located all the elements necessary to express the Outstanding Universal Value of Old Town Lunenburg. The property encompasses the intact original town plan in its entirety, missing only the fortifications that surrounded the town in its early years, but of which there are no surviving above-ground remains. Its boundaries adequately ensure the complete representation of the features and processes that convey the property’s significance, and there is a 32.44 ha buffer zone. The property does not suffer unduly from adverse effects of development and/or neglect.
Authenticity
Old Town Lunenburg is authentic in location and setting, forms and designs, materials and substances, and uses and functions. The original British colonial town plan remains evident, including the regular layout of property parcels in a grid pattern with geometrically regular streets, central public spaces, and key community structures, with a functioning waterfront as its focus. In terms of forms and materials, there is a harmony of scale, siting and materials (predominantly wood) throughout the property, and a regional architectural vocabulary that includes the ‘Lunenburg bump’, an indigenous five-sided dormer. While a continuing vernacular architectural tradition is integral to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value, there has been very limited infill in the modern era. Many of the property’s historic uses and functions survive.
Most of the recent changes to the property are renovations to specific buildings, some of which have better conveyed the heritage value of Old Town Lunenburg than others. Due to long-term economic circumstances, there are also ongoing pressures on property owners in terms of rising property values, maintenance costs, and the challenges of retaining historical accuracy in restoration planning.
Protection and management requirements
Old Town Lunenburg, which is almost entirely in private ownership, is commemorated by the Government of Canada as a National Historic Site (1991) and protected under two key pieces of provincial legislation, the Municipal Government Act (1998) and the Heritage Property Act (1989), which enable the municipality to create, respectively, land-use and heritage bylaws. In this context, the municipality adopted the Heritage Conservation District Plan, Bylaw and Guidelines in 2000 (consolidated in 2001). In order to better manage the community as a World Heritage property and ensure the continuing protection of the town’s heritage resources, the Town of Lunenburg Heritage Sustainability Strategy (2010) has been developed to guide its development, including the identification of heritage, culture and tourism prospects that may produce economic opportunities for the community.
Sustaining the Outstanding Universal Value of the property over time will require managing, to the degree possible, ongoing pressures on property owners related to rising property values, maintenance costs, and the challenges of retaining historical accuracy in restoration planning. It will also require developing and implementing mechanisms to encourage building renovations that fully respect the heritage value of Old Town Lunenburg. Special attention will be given over the long term to monitoring and taking appropriate actions related to a number of factors in and near the property. Specifically, these include the potential impacts of climate change, and the impacts of tourism and visitation.
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