Fountains Abbey

First thing’s first, what is a World Heritage Site?

The World Heritage Site list is chosen by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). This list is made up of sites across the world which have great cultural and/or natural value and need to be treasured and maintained for future generations. To become a World Heritage Site you must be able to show ‘outstanding universal value’ and be able to meet one of 10 criteria set out by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Recognised as a ‘feat of human creative genius,’ Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal met two of the criteria that UNESCO set out: Criterion (i): represent a unique artistic achievement, a masterpiece of human creative genius Studley Royal Park, including the ruins of Fountains Abbey owes its originality and striking beauty to the fact that a humanised landscape was created around the largest medieval ruins in the United Kingdom. The use of these features, combined with the planning of the water garden itself, is a true masterpiece of human creative genius. Criterion (iv): be an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in history Combining the remains of the richest abbey in England, the Jacobean Fountains Hall and Burgess miniature neo-Gothic masterpiece of St Mary’s, with the water gardens and deer park into one harmonious whole, Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey illustrates the power of medieval monasticism, and the taste and wealth of the European upper classes in the eighteenth century.