Liverpool World Heritage Values

The full case for Liverpool's inscription onto the World Heritage list was set out in Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City Nomination Document. 

Crucial to the understanding of the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site is that the overriding reason for its inscription is the theme:

'Liverpool - The supreme example of a commercial port at the time of Britain's greatest global influence.'  

The Statement of Significance in the Nomination Document made the justification for Liverpool's inscription on the basis of:

1. Liverpool's role in World History
2. Liverpool's Tradition of Innovative Development
3. Liverpool's Outstanding Urban Landscape
4. Liverpool's Collections.

This Statement of Significance was not questioned by the World Heritage Committee when Liverpool's nomination was considered.

The Statement of Liverpool's Outstanding Universal Value which was agreed by the World Heritage Committee in July 2004 confirmed that Liverpool meets three criteria for cultural WHSs:

• Criterion (ii): Liverpool was a major centre generating innovative technologies and methods in dock construction and port management in the 18th and 19th centuries. It thus contributed to the building up of the international mercantile systems throughout the British Commonwealth;
• Criterion (iii): the city and the port of Liverpool are an exceptional testimony to the development of maritime mercantile culture in the 18th and 19th centuries, contributing to the building up of the British Empire. It was a centre for the slave trade, until its abolition in 1807, and to emigration from northern Europe to America;
• Criterion (iv): Liverpool is an outstanding example of a world mercantile port city, which represents the early development of global trading and cultural connections throughout the British Empire.    

The Statement of Significance goes on to state: 

'Six areas in the historic centre and docklands of the maritime mercantile City of Liverpool bear witness to the development of one of the world's major trading centres in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

'Liverpool played an important role in the growth of the British Empire and became the major port for the mass movement of people, e.g. slaves and emigrants from northern Europe to America. 

'Liverpool was a pioneer in the development of modern dock technology, transport systems, and port management. The listed sites feature a great number of significant commercial, civic and public buildings, including St George's Plateau.'