World Heritage Site

The Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret’s Church was inscribed as a cultural World Heritage Site in 1987. The designation of this group makes them one of 851 buildings and sites worldwide considered to have ‘outstanding universal value’ and to be part of the world’s cultural and natural heritage. A significant proportion of the Westminster Abbey and Parliament Square Conservation Area is included.

The justification for the inscription for the Westminster World Heritage Site and its outstanding universal value can be summarised as follows:

• The importance, as a group, of the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey with St Margaret's Church.
• The Palace as a supreme example of Gothic Revival and the work of Sir Charles Barry and A.W. Pugin.
• The surviving buildings of the medieval Palace of Westminster, notably the internationally important Westminster Hall and the Jewel Tower.
• Westminster as the site of the development of parliamentary ideals since the 13th century and as the pre-eminent symbol of the democratic institution.
• Westminster Abbey as a major ecclesiastical monument of great antiquity and beauty.
• Westminster Abbey as a place of worship and site of coronation and shrine of British monarchs since the 11th century and the place where the nation's important statesmen, poets and other individuals are commemorated.
• St Margaret's Church is regarded as the parish church of the House of Commons.

Further information on the unique qualities and significance of the site, as well as key management objectives, can be found in the Westminster World Heritage Site Management Plan. 

The Westminster World Heritage Site Steering Group comprises all organisations involved in the management and protection of the site and this is currently chaired by Westminster City Council.

A comprehensive list and description of the UK's 28 World Heritage Sites is also avaliable on the UK World Heritage Portal along with other useful contacts and information.