Wendland
The Wendland is a region in Germany on the borders of the present states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
In 2012 the state of Lower Saxony nominated the Rundling villages in Hanoverian Wendland for the German shortlist of candidates for future UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Subsequent decisions that will determine the success of this bid take place in 2013 at the conference of education ministers (Kultusministerkonferenz) and no earlier than 2017 by UNESCO.
In the Middle Ages, and in places up to the Early Modern Period the Wendland was inhabited by Western Slavs, called Wends in German.
As a result there are numerous place names that have Slavic origins, as well as circular villages of the Rundling type that emerged during times of German-Slav conflict in the Medieval period.
It has been put forward that the unusually good preservation state of the Rundlings in the Hanoverian Wendland is largely due to their relatively isolated situation and the low economic prosperity of the region.
The Rundling villages of the Hanoverian Wendland were nominated in 2012 by the state of Lower Saxony as a cultural landscape for the German shortlist of candidates for future UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
On 18 June 2012, the Lower Saxon Ministry of Science and Culture (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur) announced its decision following a selection process that had started in 2011.
The state of Lower Saxony hoped that the bid will prove successful because these circular villages are among the most unrepresented categories of cultural landscapes and farming architecture in the UNESCO's world heritage list.
