UNESCO

The „World heritage convention“ was fixed in 1972 at the general UNESCO conference, in order to help select „natural and cultural heritage“ which is of particular special interest and value to the planet and humanity as a whole and to place them into a list. The list lies at UNESCO in Paris. The aim of the convention is to form a cooperation between all countries to be able to afford protection for these „world heritages“.
The convention is currently supported by 158 countries. A total of 552 „objects“ have been included in the list of world heritages from 112 countries: of which 529 "Objects" are cultural heritages, 138 are natural heritages and 23 "Objects" cover both (information from Historische Kulturlandschaft "Hallstatt - Dachstein / Salzkammergut" (Date: January 2000).
Austria entered this convention in 1992, reservations about individual votes regarding protection of nature prevented any earlier entry.
 
The historical cultural landscape of Hallstatt/Dachstein is a part of the Salzkammergut and stands out due to it’s rare flora and fauna, important archaeological sites aswell as through a four and a half thousand year continuous history of culture. The core area of this cultural landscape around Hallstatt is bordered by the Hohe Dachstein, the Gosaukamm and the Gosau lakes in the west,  the Gosauzwang in the north and the east shore of the Hallstätter lake and has a bufferzone within the counties of Salzburg and Styria.
The cultural continuity can be seen in Hallstatt with the architectural history from the gotisch people. The glacier region of the Dachstein and the karst formations and the internationally renowned caves and cave systems are of much interest to researchers. The opulent fauna and flora are not typical for the bizarre mountain landscape with it’s many fjord like lakes and are very important.

Dachstein / Hallstatt – Salzkammergut

Thanks to the inclusion in the exclusive UNESCO world heritage list this region witnessed special worldwide recognition. The World Heritage committee came to it’s decision with the following words: "For the alpine region Hallstatt - Dachstein / Salzkammergut it concerns a exceptional example of natural landscape of unique beauty and particular scientific importance, which is also provides us information about early and current human, economic and cultural activities. This cultural landscape combines nature and culture in a harmonic and opposing way."

With this comment the region Hallstatt - Dachstein / Salzkammergut stands on an equal level on the UNESCO list with the pyramids of Gizeh, the cologne cathedral, the diggings of Pompei, the Great Wall of China and the Galapagos islands in Ecuador, to name just a few examples.
The up until now 522 UNESCO world heritages in 112 countries is a exceptional, universal sign of the importance human heritage. They all stand under special protection of the Cultural and Natural heritage, which is backed by the UNESCO protection instrument of 152 countries, including Austria.

The mulit faceted landscape with it’s historical and cultural dimensions, it’s unique cave system, it’s many different flora and fauna is such a complex phenomenon, that the region Hallstatt is not just classed as a cultural heritage but also as a natural one at international level. In the UNESCO list Hallstatt is as high up as areas such as Ayers Rock in Australia and one of the special Phillipines islands, one of the rare few which bring together nature and culture.