The New Lanark site of the world's first nursery and infant school has been awarded World Heritage Status. The industrial cotton-spinning village is only the fourth site in Scotland to receive the status given to places of exceptional value. It joins internationally renowned sites including the Giant's Causeway and the Tower of London. New Lanark became famous as a model community under the management of Robert Owen from 1800 to 1825. He improved the mills and used profits to finance social and education reforms, including progressive schools in a building known as the Institute for the Formation of Character.