Creation of a network of 'European Heritage' listed sites
European Heritage
- from: 04.12.2008
- to: 05.12.2008
- In: Avignon, Palais des Papes - Cellier Benoît XII
The conference in Avignon on 4 and 5 December 2008 will bring together all the administrators of 'European Heritage' listed sites for the first time. Creating a network will help to strengthen best practices in terms of management and to place heritage properties at the heart of intercultural dialogue in Europe.
Initiated at the "Meetings for European culture" in Grenada and in Lublin in October 2006, the project for creating a list of 'European Heritage' sites was launched on the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in March 2007. This intergovernmental project aims to distinguish different types of cultural property, namely monuments, natural or urban sites, memorials, and also elements of immaterial contemporary heritage that may be linked to a particular place. The aim is to emphasise the value of sites that are part of European heritage in the EU Member States and part of their shared history.
The conference in Avignon on 4 and 5 December 2008 will be the ideal opportunity to set up a network of the listed sites. Developing contacts between the sites has a twofold aim: to strengthen best practices in terms of management and to place heritage properties at the heart of intercultural dialogue in Europe. This conference is in line with the Council of the European Union's working plan for culture, which has three main axes for the 2008-2010 period:
- enhancing heritage and strengthening European citizens' attachment to this heritage;
- improving economic attractiveness and sustainable development across the European Union;
- disseminating cutural and artistic education, particularly among young people.
The European Parliament endorsed the establishment of a European heritage label in its resolution of 10 April 2008 on a European agenda for culture in a globalising world. This concept was also examined at the informal Council in Versailles on 21 July 2008 by the culture ministers, to whom a text will be submitted at the November Council meeting in Brussels.
- Updated: 30.12.2008
