UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Lower Austria
Unique witnesses of mankind’s cultural history.
World-class cultural heritage: Four of the twelve Austrian UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in Lower Austria - a homage to the cultural diversity of Austria’s historic heartland.
The unique location of Lower Austria - situated in central Europe and yet a border region - attracted people and powers to the area, which made for not only an eventful history but also an exceedingly rich cultural heritage. The range extends from small and precious- such as the nearly 30,000 year-old Venus from the village of Willendorf in Wachau, now one of the world's most famous artworks from the Stone Age- to mighty and landscape-shaping, such as the Semmering Railway, the first standard-gauge mountain railway in Europe.
In addition to the Semmering Railway (1998) and the Wachau Cultural Landscape (2000), two more Lower Austrian sites were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021; these were the historic spa town of Baden and the Danube Limes built by the Romans. Four very different cultural monuments, all of which are unique witnesses to human creativity and make visiting Lower Austria such an exciting prospect.
