Herrnhut celebrates its World Heritage title with a civic festival

M Herrnhut celebrated its designation as a World Heritage Site with a civic festival. On Friday, Unesco designated the small town in Saxony as part of the settlements of the Moravian Church as a new World Heritage Site.

Refugees of faith from Moravia founded the town in 1722. The missing "d" in the name of the congregation "Moravian Church" is due to the language of the time, when people still spoke of Gemeine. The community later spread around the world, with missionaries from Upper Lusatia taking building plans for new settlements to other countries. One of them, Christiansfeld in Denmark, was already recognized as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2015.

The mayor of Herrnhut, Willem Riecke, was delighted. The World Heritage title strengthens the network of the Brethren communities and the places behind them, he told MDR. "This is a great pleasure and also a great honor for us."