World Heritage Day

The 18th April, marks World Heritage Day (otherwise known as 'International Day for Monuments and Sites’). 

This year we, as England’s only natural World Heritage Site, are marking the occassion with this page dedicated to World Heritage Day alongside a series of social media posts relating to the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, known as the 'Jurassic Coast'. 

The Jurassic Coast boasts significant natural heritage, for which it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site, but also offers a fascinating cultural heritage, the story of which can be best understood by visiting the museums and visitor centres that site along the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

We have teamed up with Dorset Museum and Art Gallery to present some of the ways we can learn from this incredible World Heritage Site as well as the ways in which people have interacted with the coast over the millions of years since its formation.

The theme of this year’s World Heritage Day is Disaster and conflict resilient heritage. Although this theme aligns more with built heritage, looking closely at the impact and relevance of the Venice Charter, we are taking the opportunity to celebrate this World Heritage Site too!

The most obvious ways we can relate to this is the climate emergency and natural disasters, we have certainly seen an increase in storminess and related landslides of late. But we will also be taking a look at this theme through the ages as it relates to the Jurassic Coast. 

Find out more about the palaeontology and geology of the World Heritage Site or look through some of the fantastic fossils from collections at Museums on the World Heritage Site in our fossil finder database.   

You can also explore some of the people and archaeological stories featured on our social media channels here too.