The Plitvice Lakes National Park today marks the 45rd year since its registration UNESCO World Heritage List. This significant moment happened October 26, 1979. On that occasion, the World Heritage Committee (World Heritage Committee - WHC) nominated the Plitvice Lakes National Park to include this area on the World Heritage List as then the only natural heritage.
It is significant to note that this entry of the National Park in the List happened several years after its adoption Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), and only a year after the first enrollment in the field of cultural and natural heritage. Namely, the Yellowstone National Park and the Galápagos Islands were inscribed as natural heritage at that time. As early as 1976, the Convention had been ratified by 24 countries, while in 2017 that number reached 193 signatory countries.
One of the more significant considerations and grounds for the adoption of the Convention was the assertion how the deterioration or disappearance of any part of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a detrimental impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world. UNESCO World Heritage consists of World Cultural Heritage i World Natural Heritage.
Marking the inclusion of Plitvice Lakes National Park on the UNESCO list - promo prices i Tribute to Milka Trnini
On the occasion of this great anniversary, from today until November 3, a traditional promotional week will be held with promo prices. Thus, the price for individual and group tickets for adults will be 10 euros, for students 7 euros, and for children from 18 to 7 years only 50 euros. Free tickets are provided for children up to XNUMX years old and people with disabilities over XNUMX%.
///Plitvička jezera offers promo ticket prices for the promotional autumn week again this year
Today, at 17 p.m., a special event will be held in the Winter Garden of the Jezero Hotel program in honor of the greatest Croatian opera diva Milka Trnina. Milka Trnina, the famous Croatian opera diva, was born in 1863 in Vezišće and died in 1941 in Zagreb. She stood out with performances of Wagner's opera heroines and performed all over the world. She contributed to numerous causes with her humanitarian work, and in 1897 she donated all the proceeds from a concert at the Croatian National Theater to the Society for the Beautification and Arrangement of Plitvice Lakes and its surroundings.
The society thanked her by naming one of the waterfalls on the Plitvice Lakes - the Milka Trnina waterfall. That event is described in the booklet Guide to the Plitvice Lakes 1893-1928, published on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Society.
What is the World Heritage List?
Areas inscribed on the World Heritage List must be from unique universal values (Outstanding Universal Value). This means that each area must justify this value with a minimum one of a total of 10 criteria. Until 2004, the criteria were divided into six cultural and four natural criteria. After the revision of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, all ten criteria were combined. Each criterion has its own description, and today's areas should certainly satisfy at least one of the listed criteria, although they often include more of them.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO) received a proposal to nominate the Plitvice Lakes National Park to the World Heritage List in April 1979.
The description of the area, historical characteristics, geological features and the most important part of the document, the explanation for inclusion in the World Heritage List, was compiled on behalf of the Plitvice Lakes National Park by Aleksandar Brnek-Kostić in collaboration with engineer Stahan from the Republic Institute for Nature Protection in Zagreb. Describing the travertine barriers that block the river valley, the biological and ecological conditions required for the growth of travertine barriers, the authors also add well-preserved forests and a wealth of fauna to the description of the peculiarities.
The nomination proposal was accompanied by various geological, pedological, photocenological maps, the longitudinal profile of the lake and photo documentation. As is still common today when revising proposals for inscription on the World Heritage List, the opinion on the proposal is submitted International Union for Conservation of Nature (International Union for Conservation of Nature - IUCN).
Plitvice Lakes included in the UNESCO list
It was concluded that the Plitvice Lakes National Park should be included in the World Heritage List primarily because "undisturbed formation of tufa" which shapes the landscape character and the hydrological system. This process is fully compliant with the criterion relating to the continuous process of development of plant and animal communities, terrestrial forms and marine and freshwater water bodies. As secondary reasons for listing, the IUCN highlights a criterion that encompasses interactions between man and his natural landscape and as exceptional combinations of natural and cultural elements.
In the new Management Plan, it was determined that the interaction of water, air, geological substrate and organisms, and thanks to special physico-chemical and biological conditions, enabled the formation of travertine, which created a series of lakes, barriers and waterfalls. The totality of these processes and their unique ecology and the exceptional beauty of the area make up unique universal value.
The vision of this largest and oldest national park, implies a future in which the national park is still UNESCO World Heritage Site. This certainly includes the preservation of a unique universal value and the criteria used to describe it. Currently, and in the coming years, it is necessary to understand the importance of the Plitvice Lakes not only as a natural heritage of exceptional importance for Croatia, but as a heritage important for the whole world.
The plaque placed in 2006 testifies to the designation of the Plitvice Lakes as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. It is also a reminder to numerous visitors of how important the area they are visiting is, where they will encounter fascinating scenes of water, waterfalls, lakes and forests.
Source: Public institution Plitvice Lakes National Park
