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Recent Reviews Caspar Dechmann


Yuso and Suso Monasteries

Caspar Dechmann Switzerland - 02-Mar-24

Yuso and Suso Monasteries

I visited this site in 2006 when I didn't think a lot about WHSs yet and hadn't seen many sites. Even then we found it surprising if not ridiculous that this site should be a WHS. The site consists obviously of two sites: Suso the upper monastery is tiny but has a certain charme with visigothic and mozarabic elements that I would certainly appreciate today though they have hardly any OUV on their own. Yuso, the lower monastery, on the other hand, lacks any special character or beauty. There are dozens of more interesting monasteries in Spain alone. 

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Cathédrale de Saint-Denis (T)

Caspar Dechmann Switzerland - 29-Nov-23

Cathédrale de Saint-Denis (T)

When you take the relatively short way from the centre of Paris to Saint-Denis you are not sure if you really went the right way. You are still very much in Paris but the quarter is rather poor and and as a caucasian north European you feel like a stranger among a largely arab crowd. Street vendors enhance the exotic feeling. When you stand in front of the building the doubts are not resolved: The asymmetrical facade with just one tower looks rather clumsy and unfinished despite the beautiful portals. The modern arge square in front does not help the impression. 

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Viking Age Ring Fortresses

Caspar Dechmann Switzerland - 18-Sep-23

There may have been a time when viking sites were underrepresented on the world heritage list but by now I think they are already overrepresented. Firstly the viking period is a rather limited era and has already 6 sites or more on the list. I haven't visited all of them but I have visited Jelling and Hedeby (and St. Kilda but there the Viking connections is not central). While I found both visits worthwhile and interesting, in both there is very little to see and they need a lot of explanation and imagination and I am not so sure at all that they really need to be on the list.

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Mediterranean Wind Mills (T)

Caspar Dechmann Switzerland - 22-Mar-23

Mediterranean Wind Mills (T)

I visited the Molino viejo de Zabala, west of Cartagena. It is indicated on this website as one of the locations of this nomination though I didn't find out why since I didn't find it in the nomination a there are hundreds more. There are also larger groupe of windmills what would increase the pleasure of the visit. As far as I could see they seem all protected.  This single mill is small and about 300 years old. Tt is rightfully preserved but it is a very simple construction and I doubt it varies greatly from similar mills in Greece or the Balkan. If you have experienced the incredible complexity of dutch mills, for example at Kinderdijk or even more in Zaandam with many different functions and technical finesses there seems little reason to inscribe the Spanish mills. 

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Primeval Beech Forests

Caspar Dechmann Switzerland - 02-Jun-22

Primeval Beech Forests

This is a hard site to rate: There is no doubt at all that these areas should be protected. But this site has been so "successful" with its many extensions that it has kind of ridiculed its on OUV: How can a site have OUV that has 82 locations in most European countries? The locations are so numerous that nobody can still consider unique so it would actually only be consequent to remove the site from the list! It implies the strong question how many locations a serial site can or should have (I couldn't answer this question in respect to the Compostela sites though I think definitely that a much stronger selection would improve the sites)

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Profile Data

Name
Caspar Dechmann
Country
Switzerland
Most Impressive
Venice
Proposal
Gdansk, New York Central Park

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Update 03.03.24
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