4th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Abu Dhabi (Sept 28-Oct. 2, 2009)

The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage takes place in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) from 28 September to 2 October 2009. The Committee will, among other things, inscribe the first intangible cultural heritage elements on the Urgent Safeguarding List and the Representative List, as well as select safeguarding programmes, projects and activities that it considers best reflect the principles and objectives of the Convention. One hundred and eleven nominations for the Representative List have been examined from 11 to 15 May 2009 by a subsidiary body of the Committee. In Abu Dhabi, the Committee will decide whether the elements shall or shall not be inscribed.

See the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO) website

Taormina Declaration: "Saving Europe's memory and identity"

Adopted by the participants of the EUROPA NOSTRA FORUM on “Safeguarding Europe’s Historic Small Towns and Villages and their Surrounding Landscapes” organised in cooperation with ITALIA NOSTRA
Taormina, Sicily, 4 June 2009

Read the Declaration in the Europa Nostra website

MOSAIKON: A Regional Strategy for the Conservation of Mosaics in the Mediterranean

ATHAR-MOSAIKON: Conservation and Management of Mosaics on Archaeological Sites 3–21 May 2010 Tyre, Lebanon Application deadline: 30 November 2009

Project Objectives

MOSAIKON is a partnership of four institutions: the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, ICCROM (the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), and the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM).

The objectives of MOSAIKON are:

- to strengthen the ICCM and the network of professionals concerned with the conservation, restoration, maintenance, and management of the mosaics heritage;
- to provide training to a variety of individuals involved in mosaics conservation and, more generally, with the management of archaeological sites and museums with mosaics;
- to work with national and international bodies to provide a more favorable legislative, regulatory, and economic environment for the conservation of mosaics in the Mediterranean; and
- to promote the dissemination and exchange of information.

Read more about the project in the Getty Conservation Institute website and in the ICCROM website

Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage - Newsletter 47

The Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage - Newsletter 47 (24th of September 2009) has just been published on their website

Download the newsletter in English - Français - Español

Source: Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage website

Esempi di Architettura n°7: Rehabilitation planning in the historical towns of the occupied Palestinian territory

The issue n° 7 of Esempi di Architettura: Rehabilitation planning in the historical towns of the occupied Palestinian territory, edited by Elisa Palazzo, will be launched in Rome on October the 1st.



For more details see http://www.esempidiarchitettura.it/index.php

Film on the Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention 2001

See the film on the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001).

Watch the film

Source: UNESCO website

Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009

The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 was provided to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts on 30 June 2009 and subsequently tabled in the Australian Parliament.

The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 is a summary of the past and present condition of the environmental, economic and social values of the Great Barrier Reef and presents its possible future.

This first Outlook Report highlights that the Great Barrier Reef is one of the most diverse and remarkable ecosystems in the world and remains one of the most healthy coral reef ecosystems. Climate change, continued declining water quality from catchment runoff, loss of coastal habitats from coastal development and a small number of impacts from fishing are identified as the priority issues reducing the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Outlook Report has been prepared by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority based on the best available information. Many people with an interest in the Great Barrier Reef have contributed to its development, including leading Great Barrier Reef scientists, industry representatives and members of regional communities. The Report was independently peer reviewed.

Download the report

Proceedings of the conference "Paisajes Históricos Urbanos - Metodología de Gestión del Patrimonio Urbano"

Paisajes Históricos Urbanos - Metodología de Gestión del Patrimonio Urbano
San Juan, Argentina, 22 al 24 de abril de 2009
Organizado por IDIS (Instituto de Teoría, Historia y Crítica del Diseño), de la Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño, Universidad Nacional de San Juan ICOMOS Argentina (Consejo Internacional de Monumentos y Sitios).
ISBN 978-950605572-1

The proceedings of the Conference are available online in the website of ICOMOS Argentina

Las actas de la conferencia están disponibles online en la web de ICOMOS Argentina

Moscow Heritage at Crisis Point - updated edition available online

Moscow Heritage at Crisis Point - Updated, expanded edition



The report is a follow up to the 2007 report, which brought the crisis that Moscow’s heritage is undergoing into the centre of national and international attention. Despite the successes of the report, the destruction continues. The scale of the threat is such that a new edition of the report was considered necessary.

The new report details the changes of the last two years – what new losses the city has suffered, which buildings are under continuing or new threat, why this is happening, and also outlines the path for a more sustainable future for the city.

This new report from SAVE Europe’s Heritage and the Moscow Architectural Preservation Society (MAPS), with support from Do.Co.Mo.Mo International, condemns the losses while illustrating the astonishing range of historic building in Moscow, from medieval churches to elegant post-war modernism – all threatened by the furious pace of redevelopment of the city by a coterie of property developers during the tenure of Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

Download the publication

Cultural landscapes and cultural routes - Draft report of expert meeting - Australia ICOMOS

Cultural landscapes and cultural routes: Shared issues and challenges for the Australian members of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committees (ISCs)

Draft Report of expert meeting, Saturday, 1 August 2009
Australian National University, Canberra

Prepared by Sandy Blair, Juliet Ramsay, Sarah Titchen and Stuart Read

Download the report

IFLA News Brief, n° 22 and 23 - 2009 (landscapes)

The IFLA News Brief n° 22 and n° 23 are available on the IFLA website.

Download n° 22 and n° 23


Source: International Federation of Landscape Architects

DOCOMOMO E-proceedings

SOUTH CITY - Modernist Urbanism in the Southern Hemisphere: Past, Present, Future
Symposium, January 22—23, 2009
Edinburgh College of Art – University of Edinburgh

Download the proceedings of the Symposium

Held in Edinburgh in late January 2009, the “South City” Symposium sought to provoke a stimulating interaction between the heritage and future of modernist urbanism in the southern hemisphere. Organized jointly by Docomomo International Committee on Urbanism Landscape, the Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and the University of Edinburgh, it brought together a range of experts on urbanism in South America, Africa and Southern Asia, together with a range of original films, to pose the question of what contribution the considerable legacy of modernist planning and architecture, dating mainly from the postwar years, can make to the challenges of the vastly expanded urban growth of the C21.

The event opened on the evening of Thursday 22 January with a keynote address at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) by Frederico de Holanda (Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo), one of the foremost experts on the history and development of the Brazilian capital, focusing on how its revolutionary utopian design concept, with all its myths and its vernacular life, has fared in the decades since its initial launch.

Prof. Holanda also contributed a research paper to the all-day session at University of Edinburgh Architecture on Friday 23 January, along with Edinburgh-based international experts on the modernist city in South America, Africa and Asia: the 23 January session was also, appropriately, the venue for the launch of a new Docomomo International Southern Hemisphere liaison group, chaired by Ola Uduku of ECA, aimed at helping expand Docomomo’s activities beyond its current predominantly Northern Hemisphere focus.

ICCROM Conservation Series - New PDF's available

ICCROM has made available on their website all the ICCROM Conservation Series publications.

You may download them all in pdf format, together with other interesting publications, in the ICCROM website


Source: ICCROM