News of Government Institutions

Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps nominated UNESCO World Heritage Site

Berne – At a press conference held at the Swiss Federal Culture Office, in the presence of representatives from Austria, France, Italy, Germany and Slovenia, represented by the Slovenian Ambassador, Bojan Grobovšek, a joint application by the respective Alpine countries, Switzerland being the main initiator and country responsible for the action, was presented for the nomination of prehistoric dwellings around the Alps for the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The candidacy dossier, containing information on 156 of around one thousand famous sites of prehistoric pile dwellings in six countries, is the result of close cooperation among archaeologists and other experts from the stated countries since 2004.

The dossier, Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, has 1300 pages, including a standardized inventory of items found, and involved the cooperation of 30 institutions and 130 persons from six countries. The Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Jean-Frédéric Jauslin, stressed that participation in the nomination of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps for the UNESCO World Heritage List will significantly contribute to the presentation of the historical and cultural value of these sites to the public, as well as their better protection.

Ambassador Grobovšek thanked the Swiss side for their key role in this project. Slovenia is a Central European and Alpine country, pile dwellings on its territory linking it in terms of place and culture to areas in Italy and Austria, where the civilization of pile dwellers goes back to the 4th century B.C., and pile dwellings around the Alps are an important archaeological source in the mosaic of human memory.

On Slovenian territory, the remains of pile dwellings were first discovered around 1875 on Ljubljana Moor; since then more than 40 sites have been discovered on an area of 150 km2 and the latest sites were found some weeks ago in an inhabited area at the edge of the city centre of Ljubljana.

Ljubjana Moor is one of Slovenia’s major archaeological areas, enjoying a high level of professional protection as a national landscape park. Participation in the nomination for the UNESCO World Heritage List will undoubtedly contribute to better ecological and current protection of this area. The general public in Slovenia is aware of the existence of the pile-dwelling civilization, partly also because the sites of pile-dwellings are in the vicinity of the capital, where the majority of the Slovenian population actually live.

The pile-dwelling culture and civilization also found a place in Janez Jalen’s historical novel for young people, Bobri (‘Beavers’) which was first published in the 1940s but is still very popular.   Successful participation in the nomination for the World Heritage List will certainly contribute to explaining that the culture and civilization of pile-dwellers in Slovenia is an integral part of the civilization of the wider area, namely Central Europe and the Alps, said Ambasador Grobovšek.