PRESS RELEASE : Gracehill Moravian Church in County Antrim becomes UK’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site [July 2024]

The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 26 July 2024.

Moravian Church settlement in the Georgian village of Gracehill, Northern Ireland has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Settlement becomes Northern Ireland’s second UNESCO World Heritage Site and the 34th UNESCO World Heritage Site in the UK
Joins the likes of the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon National Park and Machu Picchu on the World Heritage List
The Gracehill Moravian Church settlement in County Antrim has become the UK’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site at the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee today.

The site was nominated as part of a transnational effort led by the United States to achieve World Heritage Status for Moravian Church settlements founded in the 18th century, alongside other sites in Herrnhut, Germany and Bethlehem in the United States.

Each of these settlements exemplifies the Moravian Church’s spiritual, societal, and ethical ideals that aimed at the creation of a religious community and found expression in a distinctive style of town planning and architecture.

Founded in 1759, Gracehill includes distinctive Moravian buildings, including a particular type of congregation building known as Gemeinhaus, a church, choir houses and a cemetery. There is an active congregation present at the site today, who continue Moravian traditions.

Gracehill is the best preserved example of a settlement representing the Moravian ideal in the UK and Ireland and the only example built on the island of Ireland, with its urban plan clustered around a central green square.

It becomes Northern Ireland’s second UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the first being Giant’s Causeway, which was listed in 1986.

UK Government Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:

Gracehill has been rightly cherished by the local community since its foundation in 1759 as a town built around the central values of equality and tolerance and I am glad to see it gain the recognition that it deserves.

I look forward to working together with the international community and my counterparts in Northern Ireland to celebrate the Gracehill site and ensure the Moravian traditions live on to be passed onto future generations.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Fleur Anderson, said:

I am delighted to see the Moravian Church settlement becoming a new member of the globally renowned list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

This is an exciting moment for the community of Gracehill and a huge achievement for everyone involved in the bid. The significance of it is carried throughout Northern Ireland and the whole United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland has a rich heritage and is home to many culturally significant sites, and I have no doubt this accolade will encourage more visitors to come and see them for themselves.

Northern Ireland Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said:

I am delighted that the cultural importance of Gracehill to the world has been recognised through the UNESCO designation.  In recent years, my department has worked with the Gracehill community to maintain the village and develop their World Heritage bid. We have supported listed building repairs and provided advice and, since the US formally decided to proceed in 2021, we have contributed to the nomination costs. Gracehill is a special place with an active community and this recognition of a small village on the world stage is a great endorsement, helping to remind us all that Northern Ireland has a fascinating heritage that is well worth exploring.

Dr David Johnston, Chair of Gracehill Trust said,

The prize of a cultural World Heritage listing is a huge good news story for Northern Ireland as a whole, something that everyone can share in and be proud of, with the potential to promote understanding and reconciliation and bring social, economic and cultural benefits right across the region now and for generations to come.

We are fortunate and thankful to have had the enthusiastic support of the whole community, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, the Northern Ireland Department for Communities and the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport as well as the enthusiasm of our international partners.

Professor Mike Robinson, Non-Executive Director, Culture at the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO said:

We are delighted that the Moravian Church Settlements, including Gracehill in Northern Ireland, Herrnhut in Germany, and Bethlehem in the United States of America, have been inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in recognition of their Outstanding Universal Value. Along with Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church Settlement (Denmark) that was inscribed onto the World Heritage List in 2015, the inscription not only represents the international reach of the Moravian community, but also highlights the opportunities, where appropriate, for World Heritage transnational-serial nominations to bring communities together through their shared histories.

Notes to editors:

The UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for meeting the requirements of the World Heritage Convention within the UK. This includes maintaining and reviewing the Tentative List of sites, formally nominating new sites, and ensuring existing sites are conserved, protected and given a life in the community.

The first UNESCO World Heritage Sites were announced in 1986. The full list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK and Overseas Territories are:

Cultural:

• Blaenavon Industrial Landscape (2000)
• Blenheim Palace (1987)
• Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, and St Martin’s Church (1988)
• Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd (1986)
• City of Bath (1987)
• Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (2006)
• Derwent Valley Mills (2001)
• Durham Castle and Cathedral (1986)
• Frontiers of the Roman Empire (1987,2005,2008)
• Gorham’s Cave Complex (2016)
• Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999)
• Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda (2000)
• Ironbridge Gorge (1986)
• Maritime Greenwich (1997)
• New Lanark (2001)
• Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (1995)
• Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church (1987)
• Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal (2009)
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003)
• Saltaire (2001)
• Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales (2021)
• Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (1986)
• Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey (1986)
• The English Lake District (2017)
• The Forth Bridge (2015)
• The Great Spa Towns of Europe (2021)
• Tower of London (1988)
• Jodrell Bank Observatory (2019)

Natural:

• Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001)
• Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast (1986)
• Gough and Inaccessible Islands (1995,2004)
• Henderson Island (1988)

Mixed:

• St Kilda (1986,2004, 2005)