Liverpool has some of the UK's most stunning architecture

A special ceremony will be held on Monday when the official Unesco certificate will be displayed.

English Heritage Chairman Sir Neil Cossons and Lord Mayor, Councillor Alan Dean, are among those who will attend.

The Unesco document will go on public display in the town hall. Five copies are to be given to public buildings within the World Heritage Site.

A reprint of the nomination document - the key work in the city's bid - is also going on public sale for the first time.

Councillor Warren Bradley, leader of the city council, said: "We are proud that we were awarded this status as it acknowledges our outstanding architecture and we should display that fact as widely as possible."

Universal value

Liverpool's bid to become a World Heritage Site was approved by the United Nations in China in 2004.

The area covered includes the waterfront, the commercial district - an area of warehouses and merchants' houses around Duke Street - and the cultural quarter around William Brown Street.

The honour followed Liverpool's successful bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2008.

The city's bid was based on Liverpool as a maritime mercantile city and reflected the city's significance as a commercial port at the time of Britain's greatest global influence.

World Heritage Sites are selected by Unesco's World Heritage Committee.

They have to be sites recognised as being of outstanding universal value.