German Bridge May Cost Elbe Valley UNESCO Status

The cultural site extends 18 km (11 miles) along the Elbe and includes central Dresden, baroque palaces and gardens.

The picturesque Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany is likely to be the second landmark dropped as a U.N. World Heritage site, officials said on Wednesday, after a German court approved a broad bridge over the river.

The cultural site extends 18 km (11 miles) along the Elbe and includes central Dresden, baroque palaces and gardens.

On Wednesday, the High Administrative Court of Saxony ruled to allow the construction of the Waldschloesschen Bridge through the middle of the heritage zone and Dresden's head of building said work should start in the next two weeks.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said the bridge could irreversibly damage the valley's integrity and did not bode well for a vote next July in Canada on whether to let the site keep its World Heritage status.

"UNESCO regrets the decision of a German court to authorize the construction of a bridge likely to lead to the deletion of the cultural landscape of Dresden Elbe Valley from the World Heritage List," the body said in a statement.

Conservationists also fear the bridge contribute to killing a threatened species of bat likely to feed on insects drawn to the span's lights.

UNESCO has only removed one other site -- a wildlife sanctuary in Oman -- from the World Heritage List, which includes cultural landmarks such as the Great Wall of China and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are 851 sites on the list.