In July 2021, the "Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt" was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is an outstanding example of experimental architecture of the early 20th century consisting of the Wedding Tower, Exhibition Hall, Artists' Colony Museum, plane tree grove and artists' houses.

The Mathildenhöhe area was laid out as early as the 19th century as the garden of the grand ducal court and named after Mathilde Karoline Friederike von Wittelsbach, the wife of Grand Duke Ludwig III. Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig founded the Artists' Colony on Mathildenhöhe in 1899, which made Darmstadt a focal point of Art Nouveau and European art development. Created with the aim of reforming art and life, the work of the artists' colony expressed the dawn of modernity through experimental architecture, new spatial art and pioneering design.

In the wake of four exhibitions (1901, 1904, 1908 and 1914), a series of trend-setting buildings with furnishings ranging from furniture to tableware were erected on Mathildenhöhe, embedded in a park with sculptures, fountains and garden pavilions. By the outbreak of the First World War, a total of 23 artists had worked on the Mathildenhöhe, including such renowned personalities as Joseph Maria Olbrich, Peter Behrens and Hans Christiansen.

Further information: World Heritage Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt