Pyrenees - Mont Perdu
This exceptional mountain landscape, which radiates from both sides of the present national borders of France and Spain, is centered on the peak of Mont-Perdu, limestone massif that culminates at 3,352 m. The site, with a total area of 30,639 ha, includes two of the largest and deepest canyons in Europe on the south slope on the Spanish side, and three major circuses on the steeper north slope on the French side – conventional land geological forms. This site is also a pastoral landscape that reflects an agricultural way of life once widespread in the mountainous regions of Europe. It remained unchanged in the twentieth century in this one place of the Pyrenees, and presents invaluable testimonies to the European society of yesteryear through its landscape of villages, farms, fields, high pastures and mountain roads.
Registration Rationale
The Committee has listed the site on the basis of natural criteria (vii) and (viii). The limestone massif of Mont Perdu presents a number of classical geological formations such as deep dug canyons and spectacular circuses. It is also an exceptional landscape with meadows, lakes, caves, mountains and forests. The region is also of great interest for science and conservation. With regard to cultural values, the Committee listed the property under the criteria (iii), (iv) and (v) : the Pyrenees - Lost Mountain area between France and Spain offers an exceptional cultural landscape that combines panoramic beauty with a socio-economic structure that has its roots in the past and illustrates a mountain way of life that has become rare in Europe.
Text from the World Heritage site.
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