At celebration of Bethlehem’s new World Heritage Site, officials discuss next steps

August 8th, 2024 | In The News

LehighValleyNews.com | By Ryan Gaylor

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For most of the more-than-22-year odyssey to win UNESCO World Heritage Site recognition for historic Moravian Bethlehem, officials working on behalf of the city’s application were advised not to tout their progress publicly.

“The Department of the Interior, everybody in UNESCO is like, ‘Do not celebrate. Do not act like this is yours. Do not act like this is in the bag,” Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds said.

“The United States was not going to be entitled when we had this nomination in front of the world.”

Now that Moravian Church Settlements has officially been named a World Heritage Site, dozens of people who worked to get that accomplished on Wednesday took the opportunity to finally share their excitement

Bethlehem was among four historic Moravian settlements to jointly receive the designation from UNESCO at the end of July, alongside Gracehill in the United Kingdom, Herrnhut in Germany and Christiansfeld in Denmark.

Municipal, county and regional officials who worked toward the designation packed Bethlehem City Hall on Wednesday to pat each other on the back for finally making it across the finish line.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Charlene Donchez Mowers, the former head of Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites broadly credited as spearheading the campaign with the help of dozens of other contributors.

“All of a sudden this is a World Heritage Site. To have been a part of that, it’s just amazing.”

With the marathon finally complete, Reynolds said, “The question now becomes what’s next.”

What comes next

First, the city will host dignitaries from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States from Oct. 17-19 for an official celebration of the four sites’ new status as World Heritage Sites.

A locally focused celebration will follow in spring, Reynolds said, drawing in community members “based on the idea that this is welcome to everybody.” A date has not yet been set.

“I don’t know when it’s going to be, but I know what it’s going to feel like,” he said.

Meanwhile, new branding and marketing efforts for the local site are on the way, with a particular focus on new digital advertising in partnership with Discover Lehigh Valley and Moravian University.

For officials involved with running the site, including members of Bethlehem World Heritage Commission that oversees operations, the next year or so will look much the same as it does today.

“For the present, we will continue as is,” said Curtis “Hank” Barnette, the commission’s vice chairman. “Our commission are so proud of what we have and what we are today.”

But now that Bethlehem has a World Heritage Site, the officials charged to oversee it will start assembling a long-term plan to answer several open questions about the Bethlehem settlement’s future.

“What is the best way to market this over the long term?” Reynolds said. “What can be our expected amount of visitors? How do we invest money into our buildings? How do we produce revenue?”

“That will be something that we will start to take on in the next several months.”

For her part, Donchez Mowers, after more than two decades of work on the project, said he is looking forward to taking “some time out to just enjoy” it.

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