Quadruple World Heritage

World Heritage Region Anhalt-Dessau-Wittenberg

Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a UNESCO nature reserve on only 35 square kilometres – you won’t find that anywhere else in Germany. The World Heritage region “Anhalt – Dessau – Wittenberg” stands for a unique combination of culture and nature, tradition and renewal. Many offers can be used free of charge or at a reduced price with the WelterbeCard of the regional tourism association “WelterbeRegion Anhalt-Dessau-Wittenberg”.

In 2000, the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Between Dessau-Roßlau and Lutherstadt Wittenberg, the enlightened Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt had parks and gardens created from 1765 onwards, in which nature, architecture and visual arts, but also education and economy harmonize in a unique way. The heart of the garden kingdom beats in Wörlitzer Park, the first landscape park based on the English model on the European mainland. This heritage is managed by the Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz.

The Luther memorials in Wittenberg, Eisleben and Mansfeld commemorate the life and work of Martin Luther and his co-reformer Philipp Melanchthon. The Luther House in Wittenberg is home to the world’s largest exhibition on the Reformation. The Melanchthon House informs about the brilliant theologian, pedagogue and humanist. The Reformation that started in Wittenberg shaped politics and society throughout the Western world. In 1996, the memorials were awarded the UNESCO World Heritage title. They are in the care of the Luther Memorials Foundation.

The Dessau Bauhaus came from Weimar to Dessau in 1925 and became the world’s most important school for architecture, art and design. The historic and original teaching building can be visited today as well as the houses of the Bauhaus masters and a Bauhaus model settlement in the south of Dessau. Since 2019, the new Bauhaus Museum in the city centre has been showing the collection of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. It manages the ensemble, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996.

The Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve is also part of the Anhalt-Dessau-Wittenberg World Heritage Region as part of the UNESCO Elbe River Landscape Biosphere Reserve. Over 1000 plant and more than 400 animal species can be found here. There is also a reference point for the protection of the Elbe beavers and the information centre “Auenhaus und Haus der Flüsse”.

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