Bid for Normandy’s D-Day Beaches to gain UNESCO status
The World Heritage application has been relaunched after being submitted by France in 2018
Memorial statues to D-Day in on Utah Beach, Normandy
Bill Perry/Shutterstock
The D-Day Landing Beaches could become Normandy’s fourth UNESCO World Heritage Site, after six years of campaigning.
Normandy first submitted a UNESCO application on January 26 2018 but it was put on hold due to a review of procedures for listing sites of remembrance.
Representatives met on October 28 at the British Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer to relaunch and update the project, highlighting their continued commitment to conserving the five historic D-Day Beaches.
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The committee revised its management plan to increase their UNESCO chances by bidding to preserve the Normandy coastal landscape and promote the historical and cultural heritage of the area.
The World Heritage Committee is expected to examine the application early next year and respond with a decision in the summer of 2026.
Read also: Musee No 4 Commando in Normandy: a testament to Franco-British cooperation during D-Day
Remembering ‘a battle for freedom and peace’
A Normandy press release says: “The Normandy Landing Beaches, Normandy 1944, are the site of a confrontation of exceptional scale and intensity… They bear the memory of a battle for freedom and peace, and have become a place where people can come together around a universal message.”
Inclusion on the World Heritage List is a prestigious international recognition and the petition in support of the 2018 application had more than 60,000 signatures from France and around the world.
If accepted, the D-Day Beaches will join the city of Le Havre, the Mont Saint-Michel, and the Vauban towers of La Hougue and Tatihou Island, on the list of Normandy UNESCO sites.
Mont-Saint Michel and its bay was among France’s first World Heritage sites, gaining status in 1979 and welcoming three million visitors every year.
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UNESCO sites must have Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria, which include:
representing a masterpiece of human creative genius;
being an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
containing superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
To prove OUV, sites must meet required standards of authenticity and integrity, and have proper protection and management arrangements in place.
Read also: D-Day veteran Donald 'Don' Sheppard passes away at 104 in the UK
