THE DANUBE-LIMES SHOULD BECOME PART OF THE MULTINATIONAL WORLD HERITAGE „FRONTIERS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE"

In the near future the UNESCO World Heritage "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" should be enlarged by nominating the Danube-Limes. Also the Austrian part of the Danube-Limes could be included in this World Heritage.

DANUBE-LIMES: THE ROMANS ON THE DANUBE 

Scientific institutions as well as UNESCO comprehend the Danube-Limes as part of the international World Heritage "Frontiers of the Roman Empire", which is the only World Heritage Site to stretch over many countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. With the Scottish Antonine Wall accepted by the UNESCO committee in 2008, 3 parts of the Roman frontier achieved World Heritage status so far. Hadrian's Wall was nominated as early as 1987 and the Obergermanisch-Raetischer Limes in Germany in 2005.

Now that the 3 most important Roman frontiers with artificial barriers (wall and ditch) stretching across Europe to Bavaria have been accepted, those European countries, which have a part of the Danube river Limes want to move forward to achieve the same accolade.   

In 2008 the Ministries of Culture in Slovakia and Hungary made final decisions to nominate their sections of the Danube Limes within the next 3 years for World Heritage status. They gave authority to the relevant governmental authorities to start and co-ordinate the preparatory work. An essential pre-condition for inscribing the Danube Limes is a co-operation between politics, planners, tourism and the local people. This should lead to a better protection especially for the invisible Roman monuments below ground, which should not be affected or even destroyed by careless development of new settlements and infrastructure. Beside this facts the regional governments hope to get additional input for the expansion of the touristic potential in these areas.

Austria acted similarly: the Austrian part of the Danube Limes should be put on the UNESCO Tentative List and the preconditions for inscription should be provided. This is especially supported by the Austrian Institute of Historical Research and Friedrich Bernhofer, a member of the regional government in Upper Austria. The Austrian Institute of Historical Research (project leader: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Schwarcz) has also part in the 3-years EU-project "Danube-Limes - UNESCO World Heritage", which started in 2008. They will exchange the work-flow with the Hungarian and Slovakian Monument Preservation authorities and make them accessible to the relevant Austrian institutions. Many other partner in all the other Danube countries are associated with this new EU project. This should help to gain a better protection and develop a common management and monitoring system for a pan-European co-operation for this special cultural landscape. In doing so Austria would like to act in close co-operation with the new EU member states.

Author: Dr. Sonja Jilek

Background information

The Roman Empire was defined and protected by its frontiers. They consisted of thousands of military installations (legionary fortresses, forts, watch-towers, barriers like walls and ditches) and form a unique archaeological monument of international importance, which encompasses many countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This can be compared only with the Great Wall of China, which of course is a World Heritage Site too. Individual elements of the monument, such as Hadrain´s Wall in northern England, the Obergermanisch-Raetische Limes in Germany or the archaeological ruins in Carnuntum (Lower Austria) or Budapest/Aquincum (Hungary) have been research for more than 100 years and are presented to the public in archaeological parks. Although there were and are many national efforts, a Europe wide harmonized, strategic planning in documenting, protection and presenting  this international Cultural Heritage is still missing.

In Europe the frontier runs from Great Britain via the Rhine and the Danube to the Balkans and the Black Sea (GB, NL, D, A, SK, H, HR, SB, RO, BG). The Danube Limes with its 2000 km length is the best developed river frontier of the Roman Empire, which was controlled also by a fleet.  Due to the Roman presence a network of many military forts, roads and other infrastructure and settlements existed mostly on the right bank of the Danube, which have often survived into modern times.

Because different traditions in monument protection operate in all the Danube countries it is necessary to develop management principles, which need to include common standards for the research, the protection, conservation and presentation of sites. The nomination of the Danube river frontier requires specific measures for the definition, protection and presentation. There are efforts to preserve the Limes monuments as a historical witness for future generations which makes it certainly vital to set up a commitment to achieve appropriate balance between preservation, conservation, access, the interests of local communities and sustainable economic use of our archaeological sites. The aim would be to create a Cultural route along the Danube which could serve many uses (bicycle routes, ship cruises, walking tourism, as well as function as reaction areas for the local people).

Experience has shown that the WHS status is an efficient strategy to achieve long-time preservation and sustainable use of cultural/archaeological resources (both visible and buried archaeology).