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A site to behold: Bethlehem’s Moravian settlement granted prestigious World Heritage Site status
July 26th, 2024 | In The News
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Add Bethlehem to the list with the Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China.
The city’s historic Moravian Church settlement was designated a World Heritage Site today by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
The vote for approval came early Friday during a UNESCO World Heritage Committee convention in New Delhi.
Mayor J. William Reynolds was among a local contingent who traveled to New Delhi for the historic vote.
“Our community has long cherished and preserved Moravian Church Settlements — Bethlehem, and we are honored to receive this global recognition,” Reynolds said in a prepared statement following the vote. “The designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site is a profound testament to the unmatched historical and cultural significance of Bethlehem and the enduring legacy of the Moravian Church.”
The approval caps a years-long research, application and nomination process that recognizes the Moravians’ historic significance and cements Bethlehem’s place in history along with other Moravian settlements.
Besides certifying historic significance, designation as a World Heritage Site is coveted for its potential tourism implications.
Before today, there were just 25 World Heritage Sites in the United States and 1,199 around the world.
Multi-national coalition
Bethlehem’s inclusion is actually part of a four-city group that forms a worldwide Moravian Church settlement site.
Also included is the town of Herrnhut, Germany, and the village of Gracehill, Northern Ireland, that with Bethlehem will join Christiansfeld, Denmark, which was designated a World Heritage site in 2015.
It was the first multi-country nomination for the World Heritage list in the 50-year history of UNESCO, which stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Joining Reynolds at the meeting in India were Moravian University President Bryon Grigsby, a member of the World Heritage Council and Commission, and Moravian Church Bishop Chris Giesler, an adviser to the council and commission.
The Bethlehem location comprises 10 acres near West Church Street that includes buildings such as Central Moravian Church, the 1741 Gemeinhaus, the 1744 Single Sisters’ House and God’s Acre cemetery.
The path to approval started more than 20 years ago. The local site was placed on a tentative list for eventual nomination in 2016.
Charlene Donchez Mowers, who participated in the very first planning meeting in April 2002, said she watched the livestream of the World Heritage Committee from her Bethlehem home.
Approval came not long after 2:30 a.m.
“My husband and I were up,” said Mowers, the former head of Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites. “We had our computers on side-by-side just in case something happened to one of them.”
She said she was overjoyed with the outcome.
“To be one of 1,100 or 1,200 places in the whole world — that is huge,” she said. “Right here in Bethlehem.
“If you think about the Statue of Liberty and Independence Hall (other places on the World Heritage List), we basically have a heritage tourism triangle. You can visit the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall and Bethlehem within 90 miles of each other.”
In all, the Bethlehem location comprises 10 acres near West Church Street that includes buildings such as Central Moravian Church, the 1741 Gemeinhaus and the 1744 Single Sisters’ House.
Also included are God’s Acre cemetery and the Colonial Industrial Quarter on the hillside below Central Moravian Church and Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
The Bethlehem settlement is unlike the others in the group.
“Historic Moravian Bethlehem introduces a settlement that is strongly influenced by topography and does not illustrate the classic continental European plan,” UNESCO’s website reads.
“It demonstrates clear, functional differentiation between residential and industrial, with an exceptional group of early classic Moravian Church buildings (including the only extant Gemeinhaus in the series, and all choir buildings represented) and a clearly zoned industrial quarter with important buildings.”
Heritage preservation
Advocates for the World Heritage movement say designation also helps raise awareness for heritage preservation. It provides access to the World Heritage Fund, which supports site care and emergency damage repair assistance.
It also helps conservation efforts for endangered World Heritage Sites, such as Everglades National Park in Florida.
Bethlehem was founded by Moravians whose roots here date to 1741.
The early Moravians were a German-speaking people who immigrated from the modern-day Czech Republic in search of religious freedom.
Mowers said she expects the World Heritage designation will bring “better recognition of the Moravian Church community worldwide.”
“They were bringing Christianity to people without church affiliations and to indigenous people — and educating everyone. Theirs was the first school to educate women with the same curriculum as men.
“I think the spirituality, the quality, the diversity — it was just a very diverse community.”
According to the Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites website, the Bethlehem World Heritage Commission is led by Mayor Reynolds; Curtis “Hank” Barnette, the former Bethlehem Steel chairman and CEO; Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.; Charlene Donchez Mowers, former president of Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites; and Daniel McCarthy, a public relations strategist and former PPL executive.
Read the article on the LehighValleyNews website.
