Unesco has held its first international conference on World Heritage sites and museums, with the inaugural event in Paris, France, exploring how to help people maintain and reinforce their relationships to shared cultural and natural heritage.
The event, co-organised by Unesco and the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARCWH), took place at Unesco’s Parisian headquarters between 2 and 3 November.
Unesco says that across its 1,052 cultural, natural and mixed World Heritage sites, many are home to “site museums” or institutions engaged in site preservation and promotion through their collections.
“Such museums are custodians, conveners, mediators and educators,” said Azedine Beschaouch, member of the Institut de France and former minister of Culture for Tunisia, speaking during the event. “On the one hand they contextualise archaeological discoveries and assist in scientific research, on the other hand they present us with world history and our own history – showing how connected we are across regions and the globe.”
Making heritage relevant to the local community was one of the key talking points for the event, with Molly Fannon, director of International Relations at the Smithsonian Institute saying that if people see World Heritage as their own, then they will work harder to protect it, creating a more resilient museum and heritage sector.
Latest trends in the museum and World Heritage sector were also explored over the two-day event, with young people experiencing historic monuments through digital technology, local populations getting involved in restoration work and the integration of archaeological sites into the museum experience all identified.
For the Middle East region in particular, World Heritage sites and their museums
face multiple threats, including conflict, pillage and illicit trafficking. Referencing recent damage to the ancient site of Palmyra and its museum, Maamoun Abdelkarim, director-general of Syria’s Antiquities and Museums, said that a “huge international effort” will be needed to rebuild and restore the site and its museum to acceptable standards.
“We cannot underestimate the importance of international cooperation and assistance to support both sites and museums, and Unesco’s role as a coordinator in emergency situations,” added Mounir Bouchenaki, director of ARCWH.
Unesco’s World Heritage list is ever-expanding, with the annual update to its prestigious World Heritage list,
adding 21 new locations deemed of cultural and historical importance to its global list in 2016. India led the way this year with three new allocations, while Iran and China also gained multiple inclusions, with two new World Heritage sites a piece.
