
This is a list of
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
s in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
with properties of
cultural
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
natural heritage
Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, includes flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources.
Definition
Definitions:
* Natural heritage refers to natural feat ...
in France as inscribed on
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
's
World Heritage List
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
or as on the country's tentative list.
[France](_blank)
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO Headquarters, or Maison de l'UNESCO, is a building inaugurated on 3 November 1958 at number 7 Place de Fontenoy in Paris, France, to serve as the headquarters for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ...
. Retrieved on 2014-06-23. France accepted the
on 27 June 1975, after which it could nominate properties on their territory to be considered for the World Heritage List.
Currently, 53 properties in France are inscribed on the World Heritage List. 44 of these are cultural properties, 7 are natural properties, and 2 are mixed.
Six properties are transboundary properties.
[Pyrénées–Mont Perdu is shared with Spain; Belfries of Belgium and France is shared with Belgium; Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps is shared with Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland; the Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement is shared with Argentina, Belgium, Germany, India, Japan and Switzerland; Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front) is shared with Belgium; Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe is shared with 17 other European countries.] The first was added to the list in 1979 and the latest in 2024. Five properties were submitted in 1979.
The tentative list of France contains 37 properties.
The names in the tables below are the names of the properties as used on the website of UNESCO.
There are three different types of properties possible:
cultural
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, natural, and mixed.
[France's mixed property, Pyrénées – Mont Perdu, is shared with Spain.] Selection criteria i, ii, iii, iv, v, and vi are the cultural criteria, and selection criteria vii, viii, ix, and x are the natural criteria. The dates for the properties on the World Heritage List are the dates of inscription, the dates for the tentative list are those of submission. The numbers are the reference numbers as used by UNESCO, and they link directly to the description pages of the properties on the UNESCO website.
Properties on the World Heritage List
Properties submitted on the Tentative List
Property names as submitted by France and year of inscription on Tentative List. Translation of site names provided in italics for reference purposes; official translation of site name proposed only once site is put forward for consideration on World Heritage List.
*Sites mégalithiques de
Carnac
Carnac (; , ) is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France.
Its inhabitants are called ''Carnacois'' in French. Carnac is renowned for the Carnac stones – on ...
, 1996. ''Carnac megalithic sites''
*
Cathédrale de Saint-Denis, 1996. ''Saint-Denis Cathedral''
*
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
: ensemble urbain à pans de bois,
cathédrale,
église Saint-Ouen,
église Saint Maclou, 1996. ''Rouen: timber-framed urban area, Rouen Cathedral, Basilica of Saint Ouen, Church of Saint Maclou''
*Château de
Vaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte () or simply Vaux-le-Vicomte is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department of Île-de-France.
Built between 1658 and 1661 ...
, 1996. ''Vaux-le-Vicomte Castle''
*Les villes bastionnées des Pays-Bas du nord-ouest de l'Europe, 1996. ''Fortified cities of the Low Countries of north-western Europe''
*
Montagne Sainte-Victoire
Montagne Sainte-Victoire ( Provençal according to classical orthography and according to Mistralian orthography) is a limestone mountain ridge in the south of France which extends over between the départements of Bouches-du-Rhône and ...
et sites
cézaniens, 1996. ''Mount Saint Victoire and Paul Cézanne sites''
*Ensemble de grottes à concrétions du Sud de la France, 2000. ''Concretion cave complexes in southern France''
*
Parc national de la Vanoise, 2000. ''Vanoise National Park''
*
Massif du Mont Blanc, 2000. ''Mont Blanc''
*La
Camargue
The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...
, 2002. ''The Camargue''
*
Bouches de Bonifacio, 2002. ''Strait of Bonifacio''
*
Parc national des Écrins, 2002. ''Écrins National Park''
*
Parc national de Port-Cros
Port-Cros National Park () is a French national park established on the Mediterranean island of Port-Cros, east of Toulon. It also administers natural areas in some surrounding locales.
History
The park was founded in 1963 after the island of ...
, 2002. ''Port Cros National Park''
*
Marais salants de Guérande, 2002. ''Guérande salt marshes''
*Le rivage méditerranéen des
Pyrénées
The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto.
F ...
, 2002. ''Mediterranean shore of the Pyrenees Mountains''
*
Rade de Marseille, 2002. ''Bay of Marseille''
*Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise et leur territoire :
Nîmes
Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...
,
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
,
Glanum
Glanum (Hellenistic ''Γλανόν'', as well as Glano, Calum, Clano, Clanum, Glanu, Glano) was an ancient and wealthy city which still enjoys a magnificent setting below a gorge on the flanks of the Alpilles mountains. It is located about one kil ...
,
aqueducts
Aqueduct may refer to:
Structures
*Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley
*Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...
,
via Domitia
The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and tra ...
, 2002. ''Roman Narbonensian cities and area: Nîmes, Arles, Glanum, aqueducts, via Domitia''
*
Le chemin de fer de Cerdagne, 2002. ''Cerdagne railway''
*
Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales
The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national aerospace research center. Originally f ...
,
Meudon
Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the ÃŽle-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...
, 2002. ''National Aerospace Research Centre, Meudon''
*
Hangar Y, 2002. ''Hangar Y''
*
Ancienne chocolaterie Menier à Noisiel, 2002. ''Former Menier chocolate factory in Noisiel''
*
Centre ancien de Sarlat, 2002. ''Historic centre of Sarlat''
*
Arsenal de Rochefort
The Arsenal de Rochefort was a French naval base and dockyard in the town of Rochefort. It was founded in 1665 and it was closed in 1926.
In December 1665 Rochefort was chosen by Jean-Baptiste Colbert as a place of "refuge, defense and supply" f ...
et fortifications de l'estuaire de la
Charente
Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...
, 2002. ''Rochefort arsenal and fortifications of the Charente Rivers estuary''
*
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
Royal et Impériale, enjeux de pouvoir, confrontations stylistiques et identité urbaine, 2014. ''Royal and Imperial Metz, power plays, stylistic exchange and urban identity''
*
Les Plages du Débarquement, Normandie, 1944, 2014. ''Allied landing beaches in Normandy, 1944''
*Cité de Carcassonne et ses châteaux sentinelles de montagne, 2017. ''City of Carcassonne and its mountain sentinel castles.''
*
Le Charolais-Brionnais, paysage culturel de l'élevage bovin, 2018. ''Charolais-Brionnais region, a cultural landscape for cattle farming''
*
Domaine de Fontainebleau : château, jardins, parc et forêt, 2020. ''Fontainebleau Castle, Gardens, Park and Forest''
*
Les témoignages matériels de la construction de l’État des Pyrénées : la Co-principauté d’Andorre, 2021. ''The built heritage of the construction of a State in the Pyrenees: the Co-principality of Andorra''
*
Saint-Honorat, Île monastique de l’archipel de Lérins à Cannes, 2022. ''Saint-Honorat, a monastic island in the Lérins archipelago at Cannes''
*
L’observatoire du pic du Midi de Bigorre, pionnier en haute montagne, 2022. ''Pic du Midi de Bigorre Observatory, a high-altitude pioneer''
*
Enclos paroissiaux du Finistère, 2024. ''Churchyards of Finistère''
Location of inscribed sites
See also
*
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage elements in France
The UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) intangible cultural heritage elements are the non-physical traditions and practices performed by a people. As part of a country's cultural heritage, they includ ...
*
List of World Heritage Sites in Western Europe
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated 171 World Heritage Sites in Western Europe (including international dependencies). These sites are located in 9 countries (also called " state parties" ...
*
Tourism in Brittany
*
Tourism in France
Tourism in France directly contributed 79.8 billion euros to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, 30% of which comes from international visitors and 70% from domestic tourism spending. The total contribution of travel and tourism represents 9.7 ...
References
{{Lists of World Heritage Sites
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
World Heritage Sites
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
World Heritage Sites
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...