French city of Nice wins Unesco world heritage status

In this file photo taken on October 29, 2009, people visit the Saint-Nicolas Orthodox cathedral in Nice, southeastern France. AFP

NICE — The UN’s cultural organization said on Tuesday that it had added Nice to its world heritage list thanks to the French Mediterranean city’s centuries-old role as winter residence for mostly wealthy foreigners.

Following the decision by its World Heritage Committee, Unesco in a statement on Twitter called Nice, famous for its mild climate, the “Winter resort town of the Riviera”.

🔴 BREAKING!

New inscription on @UNESCO #WorldHeritage List: Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera, #France 🇫🇷. Félicitations! 👏

ℹ️ https://t.co/X7SWIos7D9 #44WHC pic.twitter.com/GQkUmyvtgo

— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) July 27, 2021

The city joins France’s more than 40 world heritage sites including the banks of the river Seine in Paris, the Amiens cathedral, the Mont Saint Michel and stretches of the Loire valley.

Unesco said that Nice adapted its urban planning as early as two centuries ago to make itself attractive to foreigners seeking warmer climes.

Their cultural influences and “desire to make the most of the climatic conditions and scenery of the place, shaped the urban planning and eclectic architectural styles of those areas”, it said.

With close to one million inhabitants, greater Nice is the second-biggest city on the French Mediterranean coast after Marseille, and the fifth-biggest in France.

It is a tourist hotspot with several million visitors per year, and its airport is one of the country’s busiest.

Nicknamed “Nice the Beautiful”, the city attracted European aristocracy from the 18th century, starting with British royalty who had the seafront “Promenade des Anglais” (“Promenade of the English”) named after them.

Painters including Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse also stayed there, as did writers Anton Chekhov and Friedrich Nietzsche.

“The history of Nice, which is at the same time deeply rooted and open, Mediterranean and Alpine, European and cosmopolitan, has produced an architecture and a landscape that are unique, a model for many other cities in the world,” Nice’s mayor Christian Estrosi said in reaction to the move.

The Promenade des Anglais became the scene of a murderous attack on July 14, 2016, when a 31-year-old Tunisian drove a truck into crowds gathered for fireworks to celebrate France’s national holiday.

Eighty-six people, including 15 children, were killed in the attack for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility.

The UN cultural body awards world heritage status to sites judged to be of special universal value to humanity.

Top heritage sites include the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Machu Picchu in Peru and the Acropolis in Greece.

The sought-after distinction brings intangible benefits, but also often boosts tourism, and can help secure funding for the preservation of sites.