World Heritage Site

While adding the plaque photos, I came across this pretty marker sent to me by Sebasfhb and found at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. It shows the first 12 sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, so it is essentially a plaque for all WHS of 1978. It prompted me to look closely at how these 12 came to be the first.

The nomination process in 1978

The World Heritage Committee (WHC) responsible for confirming the first list gathered in Washington DC, from 5-8 September 1978.  The text of the World Heritage Convention itself was drafted in 1972. In 1977 there had already been a first WHC meeting, where they decided on subjects like amendments to the draft text of the WH convention and a printed form to be filled in for a nomination, and where the wish was expressed that “the World Heritage List should be exclusive and ..drawn up with extreme care”. 

As was common in the first years, a Bureau Meeting preceded the WHC in June 1978. Here, a select group of 6 Members (Chair, Rapporteur, Vice-Chairs - together known as the "Bureau") reviewed the nominations received and the evaluations IUCN, ICCROM and ICOMOS presented. Their job was mainly to filter the nominations and to decide which ones would be brought to the table at the WHC in September. There was to be no substantive discussion on the individual sites during the WHC. The Bureau Members had little preparation as well: "some members of the Bureau had only received copies of the nominations that morning".

Sites that missed out

12 sites eventually got inscribed, but many more were proposed. Most were formally Re- or Deferred at the Bureau session for various reasons:

Auschwitz (Poland) fell victim to a hastily introduced new rule at the Bureau Meeting to only allow 2 nominations per year by a country. ICOMOS(!) chose the Wieliczka Salt Mine (the “most important”) and Krakow over Auschwitz. The latter got a Referral with a positive recommendation for 1979, when it indeed was inscribed. There was no word on the potential controversial status of this early “site of memory”.

Poland also “lost” Warsaw (needed further expert study to see if it met the criterion of authenticity) and Bialowieza (to await expert evaluation by the IUCN European Bison Committee) at that stage.

Regarding Djoudj (Senegal), additional information was requested about the possible dam construction “which would jeopardize site’s integrity”.

Lake Ichkeul (Tunisia) had a positive recommendation from the Bureau but was deferred eventually at the WHC, because requested additional information on water quality and assurances of continued supply had not come through. Also, for Zembra and Zembretta Islands National Park, there wasn't enough documentation for IUCN to perform a full evaluation. Two other nominations, Djebel Bou Hedma National Park and Djebel Chambi National Park, were withdrawn by Tunisia. The first one still lingers on its T List.

For Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar (Ethiopia), more information was needed. Eight other Ethiopian sites were deferred as well due to “inadequate documentation”. These were: Lower Valley of the Awash, Adulis, Tiya, Melka-Kontoure, Matara, Aksum, Yeha, Lower Valley of the Omo. It is remarkable to see that 75% of Ethiopia’s current WH List of 12 was already proposed so early. From the ones not inscribed later on, Adulis and Matara are now part of the country of Eritrea (and not on its T List), and Yeha has reappeared on Ethiopia’s T List in 2020.

Syria put in a request for funding for the sites of Damascus, Aleppo, Bosra and Palmyra, but did not submit nomination files. The 4 sites did get official IDs, though: 20, 21, 22 and 23, respectively. They kept those til the inscription years later (Aleppo only in 1986).

A closer look at the 12 that got inscribed

Ordered by official ID, which seems to have been handed out at the acceptance of the nomination dossier, the following sites were inscribed:

1 - Galapagos Islands (photo 3)
2 - Quito
3 - Aachen Cathedral
4 - L'Anse aux Meadows
9 - Simien National Park (photo 2)
18 - Lalibela
24 - Nahanni National Park
26 - Island of Gorée
27 - Mesa Verde
28 - Yellowstone
29 - Kraków
32 - Wieliczka Salt Mine

Some trivia:

• With an average rating of 4.08, according to our community, 1978 still represents the best year in WH history. 
• Iain Jackson was and still is the only member to have visited all 12 WHS of 1978. At 11, Gary Arndt, Roger Ourset (both missing Simien NP), Michael Novins, Atila Ege, and Roman Bruehwiler (all missing Nahanni) came close. 10 more lack visits to 2 WHS.
• Only 7 different countries had sites inscribed; 5 of them had two sites. 36 countries had ratified the WH Convention at the time.
• No site in Asia was recognized. Also, Iran was the only WHC member representing that continent at the meeting.