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Bern with Geneva, La Sarraz, and St Gotthard, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Three Swiss sites have been declared European Heritage sites by the Swiss cultural affairs office, the country’s contribution to a French initiative signed by 18 European countries to designate an initial group of 60 sites which are important to European culture and heritage. The three are:

Saint Peter’s (St Pierre) cathedral in Geneva, for its links to religious reformer Jean Calvin
La Sarraz chateau in Vaud for its role as home to the International Congress for Modern Architecture from its founding in 1928 to 1959: the congress is considered the pioneer of modern urbanism in Europe
St Gotthard hospice in Ticino, on the mountain pass at 2,100 metres, which has for centuries served as a link and symbol of ties between northern and southern Europe.

The sites selected are designed to highlight monuments, urban and natural beauty areas as well as sites that are part of the collective memory of Europeans. The initial group will be part of a European Commission project that will re-study the criteria for selecting sites, and which will set up regulations for the use of the label.