50 Years of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in Europe – Achievements and Challenges will be held in Kraków on 8-10 June 2022 and will be organized by the Polish National Committee of International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS – Poland) and the International Cultural Centre.
The year 2022 is the year of the 50th anniversary of the adoption by the UNESCO General Conference of the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. That conference will be held in Kraków thanks to the cooperation of the ICOMOS – Poland and the International Cultural Centre.
The conference will be covered in 6 sessions. Each session will be devoted to a particular theme. During the conference, participants will discuss the achievement and experiences of the World Heritage Convention in Europe, the experiences and problems of European cities inscribed on the World Heritage List, and the trends and obstacles of the WHL. Also, one session will be devoted to the potential for application of experience gleaned from the WHL system in national heritage protection systems, and the need for modifications to the World Heritage system arising out of European experiences. The last theme of the event will be the cooperation with the V4 (Visegrad Group) as an example of regional concern for WHL sites.
On the ICOMOS – Poland website we can read that Kraków was the first European city that was inscribed on the World Heritage List and one of the 12 nominations with which the list was launched in 1978.
“The International Cultural Centre has been active in international dialogue on cultural heritage since the memorable CSCE symposium in Kraków in 1991. Kraków was also the host city for the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee at which the need for inclusion of the civil society in cultural heritage protection systems was first articulated” – is written.
According to the UNESCO WHC, “the heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live today, and what we pass on to future generations”. The mission of it is to protect both natural and cultural irreplaceable source of life and inspiration.