Dresden Elbe Valley dropped from World Heritage list

Seville/Bonn - Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley was Thursday dropped from the UNESCO World Heritage list, German officials in Bonn said - the first such cultural site to lose its status. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage list contains around 880 sites from 145 countries, and is currently under review at a 21-member conference in Seville, Spain. UNESCO criticized the construction of a steel highway bridge across the Dresden Elbe Valley, saying it divided and damaged the landscape. Azerbaijan meanwhile won praise for its preservation of the Walled City of Baku, which was removed from the list of endangered World Heritage sites. The only other site so far to be removed from the list was a natural site, an antelope sanctuary in Oman which was excluded from the list in 2007. UNESCO World Heritage Committee chairwoman Maria Jesus San Segundo said the loss of a site was a 'sad moment.' Walter Hirche, president of the German UNESCO commission, urged early mediation to solve future rows over World Heritage sites. The 18-kilometre-long Dresden Elbe Valley has some of the best landscape in Germany, adorned with 18th and 19th century construction and valuable natural areas. However, warnings were issued about the site's status back in 2006 after the decision to build the bridge was taken. Dresden officials rejected UNESCO's call to build a tunnel under the river instead, saying it was too late and would cost more. The stretch of valley, lined with gardens, meadows and palaces, became a UNESCO site in 2004 and was put on the 'red,' at-risk list two years later. Dresden residents voted in 2005 to build the Waldschloesschen bridge, which is aimed at ending traffic jams. The German government said the decision was up to the local and regional authorities and that it had no power to intervene. Dresden Mayor Helma Orosz tried to persuade UNESCO to postpone its decision until the bridge was finished in 2011. There were fears in Germany that removing the valley from the World Heritage site list would damage Dresden's cultural status, tourism and lead to other building projects harmful to the environment. Azerbaijan's Walled City of Baku, which dates from the Palaeolithic period and retains traces of the successive cultures that passed through it, was classified as endangered following a 2000 earthquake and because of urban pressure. Some two dozen new sites were seeking UNESCO recognition in Seville. The nine-day meeting was scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.