A decision on the bid for World Heritage status for the slate areas of Gwynedd will be made next month.
Following consideration from the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will now make a final decision on the application at their meeting in late July.
If accepted, the landscape will earn its place as the fourth UNESCO World Heritage Site in Wales.
They will join the Castles and Town Walls of Edward I at Caernarfon, Conwy, Beaumaris and Harlech, Blaenavon Industrial Landscape in south-east Wales; and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal near Llangollen.
Global sites includes the Great Barrier Reef, the Acropolis in Athens and the Taj Mahal in India.
The application includes the communities of Dyffryn Ogwen; Dinorwig; Dyffryn Nantlle; Cwmystradllyn and Cwm Pennant; Ffestiniog and Porthmadog; Abergynolwyn and Tywyn.
The bid - led by Gwynedd Council - is a partnership between a number of organisations including Snowdonia National Park, the National Trust, Bangor University, the Welsh Government, Cadw, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and the National Museum.
Councillor Gareth Thomas, Gwynedd Council's Cabinet Member for the Economy and Community, said: "The nomination of the Slate Landscape of north west Wales for World Heritage status is about celebrating and sharing the best of what our slate areas have to offer to the world, historically and today.
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“We are delighted that all the hard work involved in the application has reached this exciting stage of the process and we’re looking forward to the final decision shortly.
"As part of the bid, our aim is to help provide a better understanding of the significance of the Welsh slate industry and its role not only in shaping our communities, language and culture but also in roofing the world and exporting technologies and people all over the world. It is an integral part of our history and heritage that deserves international recognition.
“The application is a very important opportunity for us to celebrate and recognise the unique culture, heritage and language of the quarrying areas and to take pride in the contribution of this area to humanity and the world.”
Alongside the nomination process, Gwynedd Council has secured funding through the Heritage Lottery Fund Great Place Scheme, Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig and the Snowdonia Partnership to work across the county’s quarrying communities to empower, reconnect and revitalise those communities – through the LleCHI (Your Place) project.
Slate industry
The slate industry became the world leader for the production and export of slate during the 18th century.
While slate had been quarried in North Wales since Roman times it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that demand surged as cities across the 海角视频 expanded with slate being widely used to roof workers’ homes and factories.
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By the 1890s employed approximately 17,000 and produced 485,000 tonnes of slate a year. The industry had a huge impact on global architecture with Welsh slate used on a number of buildings, terraces and palaces across the globe including Westminster Hall, the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia and Copenhagen City Hall, Denmark.
But the industry had its effect on the landscape. For every ton of slate produced there were 30 tons of waste which was simply dumped creating huge tips.