In 1997 the World Heritage Committee decided to place the historical part of Willemstad on the island of Curaçao on the World Heritage List by virtue of cultural criteria (2), (4) and (5).

According to these criteria cultural world heritage must - in short - at least: (2) mark an important transition in the development of technology, architecture, urban development or landscape design, (4): be an example of a structure or of a landscape that represents one or more important phases in history and (5): be an example of a traditional settlement or of traditional use of soil or sea, especially when irreversible changes have occurred.

The following considerations applied when Willemstad on Curaçao was inscribed on the List: The Committee noted that the historical town of Willemstad represents outstanding universal values as an example of a European colonial ensemble in the Caribbean, in which the organic growth of a multicultural society has been distinguishable for more than three centuries and which still contains in large measure important elements of the different origins from which that society developed.