Why Dresden Lost Its UNESCO World Heritage Status

In this video, we delve into the story of how Dresden, a city in Saxony, Germany, lost its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. The Waldschlösschen Bridge, built in the early 2000s, played a crucial role in stripping the Dresden Elbe Valley of its status. Discover the history and significance of this controversial build, for which plans had been around since long before the bombing of Dresden. What came out of the conflict that garnered international attention would not only affect tourism in Dresden, but also set a precedent for future UNESCO disputes.

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Footage:
Hellerau - Screenshots from Google Maps
The remaining footage was captured by the channel creator.

Audio:

GEAR IN THIS VIDEO:
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About:
This channel deals with topics concerning architecture and city design. The aim is to broadcast interesting and peculiar structures as well as to challenge current standards within the field. If you (like me) have a passion for the subject, consider checking out some of my other videos!

I also have a homepage!

[flierfy]

What you fail to mention, though, is the fact, that UNESCO knew about the bridge when they approved the heritage status of the valley.

[godinski]

As a Dresden citizen I can say that the bridge was and is an absolute win for the city and also for tourists. People in the comments say that it destroys the historic old city but actually you can see the bridge only if you look into the opposite direction of the old city. Because of this bridge, a lot of traffic could be redirected to go around the old city while many other bridges have been or are now closed for renovation, because, you guessed it, old bridges tend to wear off the older they get and need a lot of maintainance. Dresden is known in the world already for some reason or the other. May it be the old city and its architectural achievements, sad happenings from '45 or the Elbe river and its surroundings. It does not desperately need the world heritage title like a small village behind and over the hill. With or without the title it is a beautiful city with a lot of places to rest with a beautiful view and lots and lots of green nearly everywhere you look. It is a big city but at the same time not as cold and lifeless as some other city centers around the world. And the Waldschlösschenbrücke contributes to that. (Also it is my way of getting to work at the city border in only 12 Minutes from the center where I live, would have never been possible without it)

[sosorei]

Yeah. But we really needed that bridge. It’s sad that they cut down those old trees but otherwise getting around the city was kinda annoying. There was on bridge, then a really big gap where there was only 1 ferry. And then 5 bridges next to each other. We needed a bridge. Especially for cyclist’s! And just because we don’t have the title doesn’t make our valley ugly. It’s still gorgeous and a great place to see.

[cosmicreciever]

I am from another city that also lost its world heritage status, Liverpool. As far as I'm concerned it was well worth it, Liverpool was historically a very poor and neglected city and the construction project that led to the loss of the world heritage status played no small part in the regeneration of the city and transforming it into what it is today. In my opinion these world heritage sites are something of a racket pressuring cities into not improving the lives of it's citizens for some abstract goal of preserving the feel of the place.

[fabianglathe]

As a citizen of Dresden I cannot remember that the city losing World Heritage Status has never made any impact on my life WHATSOEVER, but that bridge I’ve been using more times than I can count, I think it’s the bridge I’ve crossed the most out of all in the city and overall this bridge has made a great improvement to my life in this city, I don’t even think it’s as ugly as many people say, so I congratulate the city on their choice, and UNESCO can go stick some world heritage up their culture hole

[nickygmp_]

I’m surprised Philadelphia, USA hasn’t lost its status yet…developers have been tearing down historic buildings at record paces.

[jsequine]

I think the city was right to proceed with the bridge and prioritize the quality of life, movement of people and health of their residents over tourists. It's a key connection where people can bike and walk to the other side of the city and provides greater benefits to the city (health, environmental, reducing congestion, economic) than increased tourism. I think the UNESCO stamp helps with tourism but it's not the only reason people choose to travel to culturally significant sites. Given the city worked to receive the stamp I think they could have worked with UNESCO to design a bridge that was more aesthetically in line with the architecture in the valley and in a way that didn't detract from it's 'beauty' as they see it, working with them as stakeholders so they could both build the bridge and keep the title. The video makes it seem like the city just proceeded with the bridge and left the title in the hands of UNESCO.

But to me this says more about UNESCO's role as an organization than Dresden's priorities as a city. One of UNESCO's guiding principles is to "transform behaviours and values that reverse and halt the decline of biodiversity... to make peace with nature". Punishing a city by removing a cultural title for building a sustainable transportation bridge that promotes health and environmental leadership, seems to me a misalignment of UNESCO's priorities rather than the city's.

[grandcommander]

This is super well made! I thought you'd at least have 500k subs with such high quality, consistent content as yours. I truly hope you get the audience you deserve!

With high regards, Yours Truly me; with thanks from Sweden!

[hoppelrap]

It is really interesting how non Dresdners feel the need to tell us how bad the bridge is while all the Dresdners (me included) see the functionality and neccisity. I also do not think she is ugly. In MY opinion she is very elegant and not as massive as an old style bridge would have looked (which is really not important since it is located far from the old town).

[luigiymariobrothers]

Here in Mexico we have the "Estadio Olimpico Universitario" which one of our top league teams uses every week. Is in a bad condition but because it has the Unesco title, they can't repair it. Sometimes you have to choose between usability or aesthetics. I fully agree on repair it, mostly because its a place they use constantly

[MrDDboy]

Being born and raised in Dresden, I think that the bridge took nothing from the Elbe valley, except for the UNESCO title. I have always been very excited about the bridge and I am still. For pedestrians it opens new opportunities to explore the area and in general I think the bridge is good to look at. When it was finished, I remember how amazed I was about the bridge fitting so well into the surrounding landscape, especially lining up perfectly with the hills in the background (as seen in your video as well). Looking at the river banks which were, in my understanding, the main point of the world heritage area, the bridge is actually not very invasive given its almost free floating design. Lastly in terms of traffic, even though new roads/bridges don't reduce traffic but rather increase it, I'm sure that the new bridge helped easing traffic in the central area of the city, especially since the very old bridges in the center had to be renewed.
So again, I think the bridge didn't take anything from the area. Does it provide something? A little. After all, without the world heritage title there wouldn't have been so much fuzz about the whole thing. But the title also sparked discussion, which made quite a few changes to the design and construction of the bridge. So after all I'm seeing a slight win for the city :)

Oh, I frogot to mention one point that's important to me personally. I do see this bridge as a piece of art and certainly as an expression of culture as well. While protecting existing sites of culture is important, we are not done developing, this is not the end. So adding new pieces of culture to the existing ones is something we should persue. There is nothing worse than getting stuck in conservation, especially for the Dresden mentality, which tends to be looking too much back into the past.

[woouinluigh]

I really don't know if UNESCO really kept its integrity when they are ignoring their own criteria things.
The more I learn about it, it really starts looking like UNESCO was simply pissed that people at Dresden cared more of their own lives than what UNESCO had to say

[rf]

Thanks to the bridge, my father got to keep his hand and didn't bleed out since the route for ambulances from the main hospital to the other side of the river was reduced by 10 to 30 minutes (depending on traffic) those 10 to 30 minutes SAFE LIFES on a daily basis! Never forget that!
As another plus for many citizens, it reduced my friend's drive to work from 45 minutes to just 20... (For all you eco activists, try thinking of it as tons of CO2 saved long term)

[peterpferdproductions]

I think that the people of Dresden don't want to live in a museum only. A city needs also the possibility to develop itself. And Waldschlößchenbrücke is really not a monstrosity. It fits very well in the surrounding as a discreet arch bridge.

[Raketenmaulwurf]

In which way does it affect the City of Dresden to lose that Heritage Site? NONE!
I am from Dresden and from what I can say loosing that title did change nothing.
First: My mother works as a tourist guide and she constantly asks her tourist groups whether they actually KNOW about that. Most of them don't even know. So who cares?
Second: As already stated before, the original application for the Title CONTAINED the bridge, so actually UNESCO granted the title although the Elbe Valley was NOT in the shape it was supposed to be.
Third: Corruption... UNESCO grants and removes the titles based on who is paying them most. At first they had no problem with the bridge because, like stated before, the bridge was included in the application form. On the other hand there was another case in another city in Germany where a big part of the historic town was to be granted heritage site title. Then there was the plan to build a modern looking hotel in this area and UNESCO insisted on NOT building it because it would jeopardize the plan to grant the title... However after a certain amount of money was transfered to UNESCO, they "suddenly" changed their minds.... Same goes for Dresden. There have been a lot of people posting concerns about that bridge.. Most of them being not even citizens of Dresden and completely ignoring the advantages of the bridge concerning traffic issues. Those people (mostly prominent people) just used this discussion for self profilation... And I am pretty sure some of them "spend" a little money....

So in the end UNESCO lost a lot of it's creditability and reputation for this. And most people in Dresden are NOT that happy with another application because they feel like UNESCO is interfering with the city's development...

[comentaristax]

Tbh no tourist gives a shit about unesco stamps. It’s annoying when a city takes that as an important thing to keep sacrificing well being and a more attractive city. Happened in my county, unesco basically banned public transport in the old town of our second lagerst city

[_PresidentSkillz]

Can you also make a Video on how Liverpool lost its World Heritage Status?

[mcyte]

The bridge is absolutely neccesary fot traffic in Dresden and it looks actually pretty good. Dresden lost the World Heritage Status due to a combination of die hard German bridge opponents and Germany bashing of developing contries. In Dresden, no one cares anymore. The Elbe Valley is still extremely beautiful and the tourists are still coming.

[votecthulhu]

maybe they could have compromised and went with a historic style bridge instead of a modern design. It is obvious the bridge was needed, and if people are so massively in support of it its a good thing it was built, but just building it differently might have been the way to go

[anderji]

If "preserving the city" goes against the citizens then I'd say it's not worth it. The people at UNESCO should start considering that maybe freezing it in time is not the best way of keeping heritage for the next generations...