Germany issues invitation to culture and nature on World Heritage Day

The Wadden Sea, Cologne Cathedral and the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen have one thing in common: They have been designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, marking them as places of exceptional value to all of humanity.

There are now 54 World Heritage Sites in Germany, and, for the 20th time, the German UNESCO Commission invited people to these protected sites with a variety of activities for World Heritage Day on Sunday.

"The aim of the day of action is to make World Heritage accessible to everyone," German UNESCO Commission President Maria Böhmer said at a ceremony in St Michael's Church in the northern German city of Hildesheim.

The World Heritage Day was opened there under the motto "Convey, Connect, Enthuse." It is a "very beautiful, colourful, lively festival," a spokesman said on Sunday afternoon.

The Romanesque cathedral and St Michael's Church in the approximately 1,200-year-old city have been World Cultural Heritage sites since 1985.

According to UNESCO, more than 350 events are on the programme across Germany. These range from a torchlight tour for children through the caves of the Swabian Jura to a mining adventure hike in the Ore Mountains and a rap tour through Hamburg's Speicherstadt.

There are now more than 1,200 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 168 countries worldwide, and the list expands every year.