Landscape as a monument

There is a coherent link between the campaigns to safeguard the Loire and the change in the notion of historical heritage. In 1992, the World Heritage Convention added cultural landscapes as a distinct category of sites to be protected. They are defined as combined works of nature and human communities. In reference to the Loire Valley, the criteria selected for its listing do indeed mention the idea of a harmonious relationship between inhabitants and the river, the starting point for thinking about how all of the territory’s living beings can thrive side-by-side.

Let’s be clear that the architects of the Loire Valley’s listing did not in any way intend to sanctify the monuments, but to have the Loire recognised as a unique example of old forms of occupying the territory being conserved. In addition to this historical approach is a perceptive, artistic and more impressionistic approach: the river’s east-west orientation, which is conducive to navigation, and its exceptional light shape a living environment that is harmoniously composed of horizontal lines.

A territory born of the river

The boundaries of the territory defined during the original listing take this dual perspective into account: the places and vestiges of human activities and the aesthetic character of the landscapes. As one of the first cultural landscapes to be recognised in France and the first river site to be listed worldwide, the Loire Valley exemplifies a territory composed of heritage elements fitting harmoniously into an old agricultural landscape that is still active. Its form requires us to think about its conservation at the scale of a territory born of the river.

What the Serre de la Fare activists and scientists defended in the Loire upstream found a poignant resonance in the middle Loire region through the international recognition associated with the UNESCO listing. They gave rise to the idea of a common river, where humans and non-humans co-exist. This paradigm shift comes with responsibilities for Loire communities who are now legitimate in their defence of the river.