Tower of London World Heritage Site

The Tower of London is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

HM Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London (the Tower) is one of England’s most evocative ancient monuments. There is a tangible sense of history in every tower and around every corner, making it an endlessly fascinating place for visitors from all round the world.

The buildings and layout that we see today stand as the culmination of a sequence which started around 1067, and have developed dynamically ever since in line with the changing needs of the site’s occupants, users and visitors.

A World Heritage Site

The Tower was inscribed onto the World Heritage List in 1988 under two of the required criteria for inscription.

The justification was:

Criterion (ii):

A monument symbolic of royal power since the time of William the Conqueror, the Tower of London served as an outstanding model throughout the kingdom from the end of the 11th century. Like it, many keeps were built in stone, e.g. Colchester, Rochester, Hedingham, Norwich or Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight.

Criterion (iv):

The White Tower is the example par excellence of the royal Norman castle in the late 11th century. The ensemble of the Tower of London is a major reference for the history of medieval military architecture.

Visit the UNESCO website for details on the Tower as a World Heritage Site (WHS).

World Heritage Site Management Plan

All World Heritage Sites are required by UNESCO to have a Management Plan.

HRP’s role is to conserve the Site while enabling public access and bringing its stories to life. The WHS Management Plan provides an overarching structure for achieving these aims, ensuring that day-to-day decisions and long-term planning are aligned with the protection and conservation of Site’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). Local planning authorities in the UK are expected to take relevant policies in WHS management plans into account in developing their strategy for the historic environment and in determining relevant planning applications.

Historic Royal Palaces draft WHS Management Plan 2025-2030 has been developed in line with UNESCO’s requirements. It sets out the management objectives for the Tower, supported by actions, which reflect the opportunities, challenges and issues faced.

The draft Plan has been approved and endorsed by the HRP Trustees and Tower of London WHS Consultative Committee, a group including on-site partners, the relevant local authorities and heritage specialists. The Committee provides a forum for consulting on issues affecting the Tower and its environs.

World Heritage Sites in the UK

The Tower of London is one of a number of sites in the UK on the World Heritage List. Download a map of the UK sites below or find out more on the World Heritage UK website: