EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

the genius loci of the Gothic church. The tall tree trunks become columns, the ogive vaults
replicate the arching of the branches connecting the trees high above. The forest/cathedral is
home to northern imagery. Fairies, fantastic animals, ghosts, monsters peek out from every
corner and receptacle.” The scenery of the beech primeval forests of the nominated series is
unique both in Europe and in the world in this context − the cathedral growths of the North-
Pacific coast have been discovered by the Europeans after the Gothic period had long ended.
The images of the beech primeval forests bred mermaids in Slavic legends, Celts inhabited
these forests with dryads, and Germanic tribes believed that elfs dwelt among those fairy-like
trees. Also today, these forests are of a paramount significance in the traditional view of
nature both in Slovakia and Ukraine.
3.b Proposed Statement of Outstanding Universal Value
The transnational nominated series “Beech primeval forests of the Carpathians” as a
whole provides a superior representation of undisturbed biological and ecological processes in
the monodominant mesotrophic European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) primeval forests on a
wide range of substrates, in terms of area, growth and the assurance of conservation
management. Such forests once extended over approximately 40 % of the European continent,
but the anthropogenic pressure led to their nearly entire elimination on mesotrophic sites on
other territories. Now their remnants are comprised mainly to the parts of the Carpathians due
to a limited extent or the absence of industrial developments.
The undisturbed ecological processes within the transnational nominated series result in
a high ecological stability and dynamics that leads to the formation of hall-like structural
primeval forest patterns on mesotrophic sites. Beech primeval forests of the transnational
nominated series reach the highest average growing stock and feature a rich structure. Along
with a balanced spatial arrangement of developmental stages, it results in the occurrence of
record tree dimensions within the ergodic process of the developmental cycle. These patterns
manifest outstanding aesthetical values and thereby strongly influenced aesthetical and
landscape perceptions of the European civilization.
The beech primeval forests of the nominated series also contain genetic pools and
provide habitats for numerous endangered species, including xylobiotic fungi, insects, hollownesting
birds and large mammals, such as brown bear, wolf, lynx, wisent and others.
Furthermore, several decades-long scientific research, carried out specifically in the
transnational nominated series, strongly contributed to the development of the concept of
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