UNESCO Honors Berat for Religious and Cultural Coexistence
On July 8, 2008, the city of Berat was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.
Berat, due to its museum objects of great national value, was declared a museum city in 1961. The Berat Castle, the 7-arched Gorica bridge, the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" cathedral, the Onufri Museum, the Epitaph of Gllavenica, the Purple Codex of Berat, etc., constitute the historical wealth of the 2400-year-old city.
After joining UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), where our country has been a member since 1958, the city of "one on top of another windows" would promote monumental values and would be represented internationally together with the city of Gjirokastra, as a single site due to architectural and historical similarities, writes Atsh.
Berat, according to UNESCO, is a witness to the coexistence of different religious and cultural communities throughout the centuries. The third criterion of the reason for Berat's inscription at UNESCO expressly states that; Berat and Gjirokastra are an outstanding testimony to the diversity of urban societies in the Balkans, and to the longevity of ways of life that are now almost extinct.
The fourth criterion states that the two cities of Berat and Gjirokastra are exceptional evidence of the diverse types of monuments and urban folk dwellings during the Classical Ottoman period, in continuity with the medieval cultures that preceded it. This is a very important assessment for the city of Berat which is thus ranked among the 600 cities in the world that are on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites.
