The registered association Schutzgemeinschaft Alt Bamberg is committed to maintaining and protecting the townscape of Bamberg. It developed an interactive city map that provides information on protected historical buildings. The map is available at: www.denkmal-bamberg.de.

The Bavarian State Conservation Office maintains a GIS-based online register of all historical monuments in Bavaria. The register is available here.

The comprehensive inventory “Listed monuments of Bavaria – City of Bamberg” by the Bavarian State Conservation Office is a detailed inventory of listed monuments in Bamberg. The publication consists of eight volumes and seventeen sub-volumes, includes a register of historical cellars, a special GIS application and provides digital media for publication. The volumes are published by Deutsche Kunstverlag.

More information about the comprehensive inventory is available here.
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. 

In 1993, the ”Town of Bamberg” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The excellently preserved historic town includes the three urban districts City on the Hills, the Island and the Market Gardeners’ District. All three districts belong to the 142-hectare UNESCO World Heritage site and represent in a unique way the central European town with a basically early medieval plan and many surviving ecclesiastical and secular buildings of the medieval period. 

When Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, became King of Germany in 1007 he made Bamberg the seat of a bishopric, intended to become a 'second Rome'. Of particular interest is the way in which the present town illustrates the link between agriculture (market gardens and vineyards) and the urban distribution centre.

From the 10th century onwards, Bamberg became an important link with the Slav peoples, especially those of Poland and Pomerania. During its period of greatest prosperity, from the 12th century onwards, the architecture of this town strongly influenced northern Germany and Hungary. In the late 18th century, Bamberg was the centre of the Enlightenment in southern Germany, with eminent philosophers and writers such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and E.T.A. Hoffmann living there.

A rigorous application phase for inscription into the UNESCO World Heritage List came to an end on 11 December 1993, when the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at its 17th meeting in Cartagena (Colombia) reached the decision to inscribe the Town of Bamberg into the World Heritage List. 

Already in 1991, the Federal Republic of Germany had submitted Bamberg’s application to UNESCO. However, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) recommended excluding post-war buildings from the respective area. Accordingly, the nomination file was revised and successfully resubmitted.

To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text of the Convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage.

The ”Town of Bamberg” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993 on the basis of the following criteria:

Criterion ii: The layout and architecture of medieval and renaissance Bamberg exerted a strong influence on urban form and evolution in the lands of central Europe from the 11th century onwards. 

Criterion iv: Bamberg is an outstanding and representative example of an early medieval town in central Europe, both in its plan and its many surviving ecclesiastical and secular buildings. 

A multimedia storyboard on the World Heritage site “Town of Bamberg” is available at http://storyboard.infranken.de/welterbe-bamberg#87022.