Progress continues in the journey toward having the Heart’s Content Cable Station Provincial Historic Site inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On February 10, the nomination to add the Heart’s Content-Valentia, Ireland transatlantic cable to the tentative list for consideration was officially registered by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in Paris.
UNESCO World Heritage nominations involving more than one country (i.e., transboundary submissions such as this one) are highly complex, including the requirement for each country to be on their respective country’s Tentative List for World Heritage. After five years of work, this requirement was finally met in 2022 and the collective nomination was sent to UNESCO for official registration.
As a result, both Heart’s Content and Valentia have been added the Tentative List on the UNESCO World Heritage website.
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Kerry County Council, Ireland (as co-applicants) are in regular contact on advancing this nomination, and will now begin preparing the comprehensive World Heritage Nomination dossier. This will be a multi-year process. The next step is a strategic planning session this spring to develop a detailed nomination work plan.
Newfoundland and Labrador currently has four official UNESCO World Heritage sites: Gros Morne National Park, L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, Mistaken Point and Red Bay Basque Whaling Station.
Quote
“So much hard work, dedication and passion has gone into the nomination process for Heart’s Content-Valentia to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The official registration of the nomination is a significant step towards our goal of World Heritage inscription. Once achieved, it will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the communities of Heart’s Content and Valentia.”
Honourable Steve Crocker
Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation
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Transatlantic Cable Ensemble (Canada) – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
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BACKGROUNDER
UNESCO World Heritage Nomination – Heart’s Content/Valentia Cable Stations
The first successful Transatlantic cable was laid between Heart’s Content, Newfoundland and Labrador and Valentia Island, Ireland in 1866. It was the culmination of a grandiose mid-19th century American-British plan to connect North America and Europe via an 1886 nautical mile submarine telegraph cable along the Atlantic seabed. The idea was considered by many at that time to be impossible.
Requiring ten years and five attempts, this world altering engineering and scientific achievement (called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” at that time) represents one of the major milestones in human history, engineering, communications, and the birth of globalization. The ability to instantly and accurately communicate between the old and new worlds resulted in commercial, political, military, media, and social impacts around the world.
Permanent cable stations were built at Valentia (1868) and Heart’s Content (current station dates from 1875/76) as the respective eastern and western termini of the cable, establishing both communities as international communications centres for over a century. Between 1866 and 1894, six different cables were connected between Valentia and Heart’s Content.
The Heart’s Content and Valentia Cable Stations are the complete surviving testament to the outstanding genius and perseverance behind this world altering feat. The Heart’s Content Cable Station was designated a Provincial Historic Site in 1974 and has been operated by GNL as a provincial telecommunications museum ever since. It is arguably one of the best-preserved 19th century telegraph cable stations worldwide.
Since 2013, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been in regular discussions with Valentia/Kerry County Council, Parks Canada (Canadian UNESCO State Party) and the Irish Department of Heritage (Irish UNESCO State Party) regarding a possible transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination for the Transatlantic Cable Ensemble: Valentia – Heart’s Content.
A UNESCO World Heritage transboundary submission requires both historic Cable Stations to be included on their respective country’s Tentative List for World Heritage Sites. The Heart’s Content Cable Station Provincial Historic Site was named to Canada’s Tentative List in December 2017 and the Valentia Cable Station was added to Ireland’s Tentative List in July 2022.
In November 2020, the communities of Heart’s Content and Valentia signed a Declaration of Cooperation – an informal commitment to working cooperatively in support of various efforts to commemorate and promote the historic links between the two communities.
In September 2022, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation and Kerry County Council, as co-applicants on the transboundary submission, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the partnership required to advance the nomination and ultimately achieve UNESCO World Heritage inscription.