If history teaches us anything, it's that modernization can take as much as it gives. For the famed English city of Liverpool – perhaps best known as the hometown of the Beatles – that modernization is the development of its docks into an area filled with apartments, offices, shops, and more. While that might sound like progress to many, to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it diminishes the city's important historic value.
As such, the UN agency decided to strip Liverpool of its World Heritage status, which it had held since 2004. Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson was among many residents who objected to the decision, arguing that UNESCO had not done a true evaluation of the city in years. "Our World Heritage site has never been in better condition, having benefitted from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment across dozens of listed buildings and the public realm," Anderson said. UNESCO had asked the city to pause development but was told that such a moratorium was a violation of UK law.
A visit to Liverpool:
- Except for London, no city in the United Kingdom serves as a movie backdrop more frequently than Liverpool.
- Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Britain and the world's fifth-largest.
- King John – the famed foe of Robin Hood – founded Liverpool in 1207.
