The 19th-century German castle Neuschwanstein, which served as inspiration for the Disney logo, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Also, the prehistoric standing stones in Brittany in France are now considered world heritage.
Neuschwanstein was added to the United Nations heritage list along with three other 19th-century castles in southern Germany. These are castles that were built in the second half of the 19th century by order of King Ludwig II. They are known as the fairy tale castles of Bavaria.
Neuschwanstein is the most famous and attracts approximately 1.4 million visitors annually. In the 1950s, Walt Disney, the founder of the media company of the same name, visited the castle. He was inspired to create the Disney logo.
“A fairy tale is coming true for our fairy tale castles,” said the Minister-President of Bavaria, Markus Söder, in response to the announcement by UNESCO. “When people see the castle, some may think of Disney, but no: Neuschwanstein is and remains the original from Bavaria.”
Other heritage was also added to the heritage list during the annual meeting in Paris, including the menhirs and megaliths in Carnac and the Morbihan department in Brittany in France. Menhirs are large standing stones that were placed in the ground by inhabitants in the Late Stone Age. Megaliths are monuments that sometimes consist of several large stones.
It was previously announced that the so-called ‘killing fields’, Cambodian execution sites used by the Khmer Rouge regime fifty years ago for genocide, have been added to the heritage list.
