UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations was created in 1945 as an effort to respond to two world wars in less than a generation, in the belief that political and economic agreements were not sufficient to build a lasting peace across borders, but that a shared moral and intellectual bond could be built by expressing cultural heritage. In 1972, the World Cultural Heritage Convention developed criteria to list historic and environmental sites around the world for preservation of that cultural heritage. The initial list of sites gets added to on a periodic basis, currently 981 properties in 160 countries. Switzerland has about dozen world heritage sites. Visiting UNESCO World Heritage sites is perhaps not in itself a tourism travel plan, but certainly including some must see sites should complement any travel itinerary, and nearly all those truly unique destinations are easily reachable in Switzerland By Train on the Swiss Transportation System and a good reason for a Swiss Rail Pass
St Gallen Abbey
Abbey District of St. Gallen – The Convent of St Gall, founded by an itinerant Irish monk in the Century who came to the shores of the lake of the Bodensee, is a perfect example of a magnificent Carolingian era monastery, until it was secularized in 1805. The Abbey of St Gallen is especially noted for its incredible 18th Century Baroque library, one oldest in the world, holding precious manuscripts, earliest known architecture plans on parchment, and Egyptian mummies. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity.
Old City Center of Berne – The capital city of Switzerland was founded in the 12th century on a hill surrounded by a shrap curve in the Aare River. The city legendarily gets its name from a bear the founding Duke Berchtold V encountered in a hunting trip on his newly inherited land in 1191. The city took on the bear mascot in 1513 when Swiss soldiers return home from the battle of Novarra. The medieval and later evocative buildings in the Old City, which from a variety of periods, include 15th-century arcades and 16th-century fountains. The city cathedral was constructed during the 17th century, when many of the patrician houses were built from sandy limestone. Much of the medieval old town was restored in the 18th century, with an effort to retain its original character. The city is known for it symbolic Zytglogge Glockenspiel Clock and the apartment of perhaps its most famous resident, the Albert Einstein House.
Monte San Giorgio – Located in the Italian speaking region of Ticino in southern Switzerland, the pyramid-shaped wooded mountain of Monte San Giorgio which forms part of the shore of Lake Lugano is regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period. Diverse marine life flourished here, including reptiles, fish, ammonites and crustaceans. Because the lagoon was near land, the remains are also rich with land-based fossils of reptiles, insects and plants.
Benedictine Convent of Müstair – The Convent of St John at Müstair, found in the upper valley in the Grisons Canton, features a series of Romaesque murals and frescoes painted in the 9th Century. This complex represents one of the most coherent examples of monastic architecture and painting of the Carolingian period and the early Middle Ages.
Castle Montebello Bellinzona
Three Castles of Bellinzona – Defensive Ramparts & Market Town – This medieval site in southern Switzerland consists of a grouping of castles and crenelated wall fortifications where the Ticino valley abuts the lower passes of the alps, the Three Castles of Bellinzona beginning with the largest castle right in the city, Castelgrande, which stands on a rocky peak looking out over the entire Ticino valley. On the hillslopes above at successivly higher elevations reached by a winding path are two additional castles, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. This connected ensemble of fortifications, each with their own individual style and interior museum spaces form an outstanding example of a late medieval defensive structure guarding a strategic Alpine pass.
Swiss Alps Jungfrau and Aletsch Glacier – The Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn region is the most glaciated part of the European Alps, containing Europe’s largest glacier and a range of classic glacial features, and provides an outstanding record of the geological processes that formed the High Alps. A diverse flora and fauna is represented in a range of habitats, and plant colonization in the wake of retreating glaciers provides an outstanding example of plant succession. The upper reaches of the Jungfrau and Alestch Glacier can be reached from Interlaken via the Jungfrau Railway and the lower portion from Brig in the Vallais region.
Lavaux Vineyards lake Geneva
Vineyard Terraces of Lavaux – The beautiful Lavaux Vineyard Terraces spread for about 15 miles along the northern shore of Lake Geneva between Lausanne, Vevey and Montreux to the romantic legend castle of Chateau Chillon. The vineyards in terraform stone terraces trace back to the 11<sup>th</sup> Century when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the region. The Lavaux Terraces offer a still lively experience of wine tasting and vinoculture as practiced for hundreds of years and can be explored by tourist train, bicycle or Geneva lake cruise excursions.
Rhaetian Railway of the Albula Bernina Pass – The Rhaetian Railway joins two historic rail lines which traverse the Swiss Alps through two passes, noted for the engineering feet of unique tunnels and viaducts. Opened in 1904, the Albula line in the north western part of area is 42 miles long of an impressive set of structures including 42 tunnels or covered rail galleries and 144 viaducts and bridges. The 38 mile long Bernina pass line consists of 13 tunnels/galleries, and 52 viaducts and bridges. The route is traveled by both the Glacier Express and Bernina Express branded tourist trains and the regional Rhaetian trains. This area was designated by Unesco for its combination of construction design blending harmoniously with the Alpine landscapes through which it passes. The Bernina Pass railway was planned slightly later than the Albula line and built by a different company, but joined in the 1940s. They used the same gauge of track, but the Albula was originally steam powered and the Bernina buit for electric power, first DC, then AC. The curves radius is tighter on the Bernina line. The additions of the railroad routes in winter contributed to the growth of tourism in St Moritz.
La Chaux-de-Fonds & Le Locle – Watchmaking and Town Planning – Joined into one designated site, the cities of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle in the Swiss Jura mountains near Lake Neuchatel are unique for their town planning to support the watchmaking industry. The land was not suited to farming, but in the early 19th Century, watch-making companies founded in the area planned the building of the towns to suit the needs of the industry. The intricate nature of working with tiny miniature parts required good light before electricity. A system was developed where workers could have their watch-making stations in apartments where they live with south facing windows to catch the sunlight. The planning of the streets and buildings are designed for this singular industry. Their layout of parallel strips on where residential housing and workshops are intermingled reflects the needs of the local watchmaking culture going back to the 17th century, though the watchmaking has now moved into modern high-tech factories. The towns are especially noted for their Art Deco design, and the watch history can be viewed at one of the world’s most significant museums of time keeping the, International Watchmaking Museum of La Caux de Fonds.
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