UNESCO’s key objectives are to reinforce the role that culture plays in societal development, to foster inter-cultural dialogue as well as to preserve cultural values and ethical principles. In addition, UNESCO aims at preserving, maintaining and conveying the importance of cultural heritage. The objectives of UNESCO thus correspond to those of denkmal. As all those involved in monument conservation and restoration gather at Europe’s leading trade fair, it significantly fosters cultural heritage exchanges across borders and sectors.

In the UNESCO World Heritage List more than 1,000 natural and cultural sites are recorded worldwide. 42 German World Heritage Sites are included in this list. At this year’s meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee the caves and ice-age art in the Swabian Jura mountains were added to the list. The “Bauhaus Sites in Weimar and Dessau” have been listed since 1996 and were now extended to include the Federal School of the Federation of German Trade Unions [Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes] in Bernau and five Pergola Houses [Laubenganghäuser] in Dessau-Roßlau.