Christian settlement becomes UK’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site

A centuries-old Christian settlement in Northern Ireland has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Gracehill Moravian Church settlement was founded in County Antrim in 1759. It has been granted World Heritage status after a transnational effort led by the US so as to add 18th century Moravian Church settlements to the list. Other sites within the campaign include Herrnhut, Germany, and Bethlehem within the US.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that the settlements exemplify “the Moravian Church’s spiritual, societal, and ethical ideals that geared toward the creation of a non secular community and located expression in a particular form of town planning and architecture”.

Gracehill is distinctive in that it’s the perfect preserved Moravian settlement within the UK and the one example to have been built on the island of Ireland. 

UK Government Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “Gracehill has been rightly cherished by the area people since its foundation in 1759 as a town built across the central values of equality and tolerance and I’m glad to see it gain the popularity that it deserves.

“I look ahead to working along with the international community and my counterparts in Northern Ireland to have a good time the Gracehill site and make sure the Moravian traditions continue to exist to be passed onto future generations.”

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Fleur Anderson, said she was “delighted” about Gracehill’s recent status.

“This is an exciting moment for the community of Gracehill and an enormous achievement for everybody involved within the bid. The significance of it’s carried throughout Northern Ireland and the entire United Kingdom,” she said.

“Northern Ireland has a wealthy heritage and is home to many culturally significant sites, and I actually have little question this accolade will encourage more visitors to come back and see them for themselves.”

The settlement features buildings in a Moravian style laid out around a central green square, and a congregational constructing generally known as a Gemeinhaus. There can be a church, choir houses and a cemetery. Nearly 300 years after its founding, Gracehill continues to have an energetic Moravian congregation.

Northern Ireland Communities Minister Gordon Lyons welcomed the choice.

“In recent years, my department has worked with the Gracehill community to keep up the village and develop their World Heritage bid. We have supported listed constructing repairs and provided advice and, for the reason that US formally decided to proceed in 2021, we have now contributed to the nomination costs,” he said. 

“Gracehill is a special place with an energetic community and this recognition of a small village on the world stage is a terrific endorsement, helping to remind us all that Northern Ireland has an interesting heritage that’s well price exploring.” 

Dr David Johnston, Chair of Gracehill Trust, said the bid had enjoyed the “enthusiastic support” of the entire community.

“The prize of a cultural World Heritage listing is a large excellent news story for Northern Ireland as a complete, something that everybody can share in and be happy with, with the potential to advertise understanding and reconciliation and convey social, economic and cultural advantages right across the region now and for generations to come back,” he said.