ABSTRACT
The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, better known as The World Heritage Convention', is an international treaty to recognize, promote and protect the world's natural and cultural heritage considered to be of Outstanding Universal Value'. Fifteen countries were elected to the World Heritage Committee in November 1976, which held its first meeting at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris the following June. Its principal order of business was the adoption of its working methods. The two industrial properties entered on the World Heritage List were both representative of European salt production: the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans. Ironbridge Gorge, the icon of industrial archaeology, was among the first group of nominations proposed by the United Kingdom in 1986 after its ratification of the Convention two year before. Today, with seven industrial sites on the List, the UK leads in its recognition of industrial heritage.
