Brethren's House (officially the second Brethren's House) is one of the 10 buildings within the Bethlehem World Heritage Site.

On Christmas Eve in the year 1741, at the first house built on the Moravian settlement, Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian Church, named the settlement Bethlehem.

This Christmas Eve, we celebrate the inscription of Bethlehem as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, joining three other historic Moravian Church Settlements—Christianfeld, Denmark; Gracehill, Northern Ireland; and Herrnhut, Germany. Together, they form a transnational World Heritage Site.

During the Moravian Settlement’s first few years, the Gemeinhaus housed the entire Moravian community, providing not just a home but church, classrooms, kitchens, workrooms, and healthcare.

The Bethlehem location stretches 10 acres and includes 11 historic locations:

  • God’s Acre
  • Gemeinhaus (1741)
  • Single Sisters’ House (1744–1772)
  • Bell House (1746)
  • Second Single Brethrens’ House (1748)
  • Old Chapel (1751)
  • Widows’ House (1768)
  • Central Moravian Church (1803–1806)
  • Tannery at Colonial Industrial Quarter (1761)
  • Waterworks at Colonial Industrial Quarter (1762)
  • The archeological remains of the Butchery, Oil Mill, Dye House & Pottery in the Colonial Industrial Quarter

Moravian University’s Priscila Payne Hurd (South) Campus lies within the 10-acre tract, and the university owns the Widows’ House and the second Single Brethren’s House, home to the music department.

Bethlehem can now count itself among other global historic treasures—the Statue of Liberty, the Taj Mahal, the Acropolis of Athens—and natural wonders including the Grand Canyon, Galapagos Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef.

But it is not just the physical site that earns World Heritage status. “World heritage is about joining hands together to protect heritage,” said Director of the World Heritage Centre Lazare Eloundou-Assomo at the October 15 recognition ceremony, “and the meaning of heritage goes beyond the physical.”

“It is a testament to the universal value of cultural heritage, which emphasizes the values of the Moravian communities,” noted Courtney O’Donnell, the United States Ambassador to UNESCO.

Those values include equality, diversity, respect, education, unity, community, and service.

The Moravian Church Settlement in Christianfeld, Denmark, was first inscribed to the World Heritage List in 2015.

“The four settlements exist in different countries, but all are rooted in the same ethical, social, and religious notion,” points out Jorgen Boytler, pastor of Denmark’s Christiansfeld Moravian Church and administrator of its Unity Board.

The Moravian Church Settlements World Heritage Site will draw visitors from all over the world who will be immersed in a culture steeped in outstanding universal value. And those visitors will carry with them the light of Moravian heritage to their home communities.

As O’Donnell reminds us, “The past we protect today will inspire the communities of tomorrow.”—Claire Kowalchik