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The Morning Call: Will Moravian Bethlehem get a shot at the World Heritage title?

June 14th, 2016 |

Written by Nicole Radzievich for The Morning Call

The World Heritage list is a roll call of marvelous icons. The Pyramids of Giza. The Great Wall of China. Stonehenge. The Statue of Liberty.

Could Bethlehem be next on the exclusive list?

No, not the biblical town (though the Church of the Nativity there was added in 2012) but the Lehigh Valley city founded 275 years ago by Moravian missionaries.

That’s the hope of Charlene Donchez Mowers, longtime president of Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites and a driving force behind securing the international accolade.

The preservation list has 1,031 sites — 23 in the United States — of natural or cultural significance, representing a “masterpiece of human creative genius” or exhibiting “exceptional natural beauty.” The designation brings no promise of grants but raises the community’s profile in the competitive sightseeing industry.

Mowers has spent the last 15 years working to get Bethlehem’s original 14-acre religious commune on the World Heritage list, and Bethlehem finally might get a shot at the title.

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