You are in: Europe -> France -> Jurisdiction of Sain... , and traditional search or Image Gallery will yield results of this site only
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Site number:
932
Type of site: Cultural
Date: 11th Century
Date of Inscription: 1999
Location: Europe, France, Aquitaine Région, Départment of the Gironde
Image Gallery
Up to 75 images are shown here. Click on each for more details or on Image Gallery for more images.
Description: This fertile region of Aquitaine was introduced to Viticulture by the Romans; it later intensified in the Middle Ages. Being located on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, from the 11th century onwards the Saint-Emilion area saw the building of many churches, monasteries and hospices. During the period of English rule in the 12th century, the site was granted the special status of a 'jurisdiction'. In the present day it is an extraordinary landscape dedicated to wine-growing, holding many fine historic monuments within its towns and villages. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available.
  Saint-Émilion is a small town near Bordeaux, France that is known for the eponymous wine region that surrounds it. Saint-Émilion's history goes back to prehistoric times and is a World Heritage site, with fascinating Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets. The Romans planted vineyards in what was to become Saint-Émilion as early as the 2nd century AD. In the 4th century, the Latin poet Ausonius lauded the fruit of the bountiful vine. The town was named after the monk Émilion, a travelling confessor, who settled in a hermitage carved into the rock there in the 8th century. It was the monks who followed him that started up the commercial wine production in the area. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/932
Source2: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/932/video
Reference: 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page.
 
World Map