Visit Us
Walk through history as we guide you to things to learn, places to discover, and events that help connect us to our rich heritage.
Moravian site’s UNESCO designation made official
October 18th, 2024 | World Heritage
By Lindsay Weber of the Morning Call
World Heritage inscription ceremony recognizes 10 acres, nine structures, four ruins and cemetery of Bethlehem settlements
Bethlehem’s Moravian settlements became the 26th UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States at an official inscription ceremony Thursday at Moravian University’s Foy Hall.
The vote by the World Heritage Committee to recognize the settlements was July 26 in New Delhi, India, but Thursday’s ceremony made the designation official. Twenty-six also happens to be the number of points on the Moravian star, a traditional symbol of the Moravian Church and heritage.
“I believe God is with us,” Bryon Grigsby, president of Moravian University, said of the way the numbers, like stars, aligned. “Twenty-six is an important number for the Moravians, and it kind of is a metaphor for everything Moravian community.”
The Bethlehem settlements were nominated with sites in Gracehill, Northern Ireland; Hernnhut, Germany; and Christiansfeld, Denmark, as a single World Heritage Site representing the Moravian Church’s historical value.
The Bethlehem site spans 10 acres in downtown Bethlehem and includes nine structures, four ruins and God’s Acre cemetery. The oldest Bethlehem structures date to 1741.
It’s a significant milestone both for Bethlehem and the United States – it is the first transnational World Heritage Site. Bethlehem’s sites along with the three in Europe share similar qualities like architecture and village structure with a town square.
All four sites still have active church congregations that date back centuries.
“You and your ancestors have achieved so much in these settlements, and I don’t think I am alone when I say thank you for sharing your unique legacy with us and for the rest of the world. Now inscribed we can look forward to many years of deepening ties between the settlements and also between our countries.”
Gordon Lyons, minister of the Gracehill Moravian Church
Efforts to recognize Bethlehem’s Moravian settlements date to 2002, when UNESCO representatives toured Moravian settlements across the world, including Bethlehem.
Bethlehem’s Moravian sites are historically significant for several reasons – the Gemeinhaus, which is today the home of the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, is the largest 18th-century log structure in continuous use in the United States. The 1762 Waterworks, in the Colonial Industrial Quarter, operated until the 1830s and is the first municipal water pump system in the United States.
The recognition is expected to boost tourism and interest in Bethlehem’s downtown, which is home to the settlement sites. Some of the top heritage sites have millions of visitors each year.
The designation also gives Bethlehem access to the World Heritage Fund, which supports maintenance and emergency damage repairs.
But beyond just the economic impacts, advocates lauded the World Heritage recognition as an exemplar of diplomacy and cooperation among the four nations that achieved the recognition.
“Our presence here today, it’s exactly what World Heritage is about,” said Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the World Heritage Center. “Joining hands together to protect the most important and exceptional heritage of the world, which we cannot allow ourselves to lose because it is part of our humanity.”
Click here to read the article online.
