European Heritage Network meeting

The European Heritage Network, also known as the HEREIN network, was set up to facilitate awareness of European heritage by making a permanent cultural heritage information system available to the public, authorities, professionals and businesses.
This network is the result of cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Commission aimed at stimulating and facilitating the launch of projects and partnerships. Under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the European Heritage Network brings together European authorities responsible for heritage protection and was set up in response to a recommendation from Europe's culture ministers.

On the occasion of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the annual meeting of the HEREIN network is being held on 25 and 26 September 2008 at Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire.

The meeting will be held in two stages:

• The "Chaumont-sur-Loire conference" on Thursday 25th September will be devoted to European garden policy and heritage education. The themes of cultural heritage, gardens and contemporary art will provide a timely illustration of the wider brief of the Steering Committee for Cultural Heritage and Landscape (CDPATEP), established in 2008 under the aegis of the Council of Europe.
• The meeting of national correspondents on Friday 26th September will include a report on the state of progress and operation of the network, as well as discussion of prospects for extending the database and services supplied by the European Heritage Network.

The HEREIN network is an intergovernmental co-operation and intercultural dialogue tool. It is intended to act as a special partner for international bodies dealing with heritage issues. It currently includes 40 European countries and has successfully built up an information source unique in Europe (accessible at www.european-heritage.coe.int):

• A comparative database on national policies related to cultural and natural heritage. In each of the 40 countries, the ministerial department responsible for heritage supplies data for a report on its protection policy.
• A multilingual thesaurus including more than 500 terms in fourteen languages (Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian and Spanish).
• A selection of links to Internet resources related to European heritage.
• Virtual heritage exhibitions.

Thanks to the support of the Council of Europe and the European Commission (1998-2002), and voluntary contributions from States, the network has proved highly successful. New countries joining it supply the database with information on their protection policies and participate in activities, projects and the funding and development of new projects linked to cultural and natural heritage.

• Updated: 25.09.2008

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