The Initiators

At the end of 2000 the Hanseatic towns of Stralsund and Wismar decided to establish the World Heritage Foundation. This was just before forwarding their own World Heritage application. They acted on the recommendations of UNESCO regarding the balancing of the World Heritage List to support sites in underrepresented countries. The decision to form a foundation was based on the fact that contrary to a one-time project contribution, the capital investment in a foundation is preserved and the interest can be used to finance new projects every year.

Both the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris and the German Commission for UNESCO welcomed the idea and the foundation cooperates with both organizations.

One important condition for the long-term success of the World Heritage Foundation is the gradual growth of the foundation capital through additional partners and contributions by everybody who wants to support the protection and preservation of our worldwide heritage for future generations.

The German World Heritage Foundation was initiated by the Hanseatic Towns of Stralsund and Wismar