These places in Saxony-Anhalt are all associated with the lives of Martin Luther and his fellow-reformer Melanchthon. They include Melanchthon's house in Wittenberg, the houses in Eisleben where Luther was born in 1483 and died in 1546, his room in Wittenberg, the local church and the castle church where, on 31 October 1517, Luther posted his famous '95 Theses', which launched the Reformation and a new era in the religious and political history of the Western world.The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of criteria (iv) and (vi), considering that it is of outstanding universal value bearing unique testimony to the Protestant Reformation, which was one of the most significant events in the religious and political history of the world and constitutes outstanding examples of 19th century historicism. The Committee congratulated the German authorities on this nomination and considered that its symbolic value clearly justifies inscription under cultural criterion (vi).