International Heritage News
01
World Heritage City Marrakesh Hit by Earthquake, UNESCO to Assist Restoration
On September 8, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the High Atlas Mountains in the North African country of Morocco. Buildings and city walls in the historic medina of the World Heritage city of Marrakesh were damaged. Part of the minaret of a mosque near the central Jemaa el-Fnaa Square collapsed, causing damage to nearby heritage sites. Marrakesh, historically Morocco’s political, economic, and cultural center, was inscribed as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1985.
In response to the disaster, UNESCO stated that it would assist in assessing the condition of heritage conservation and formulate restoration plans.
Source of text and images: International Heritage Observation
02
UK Short-Term Online Training: International Cultural Heritage Law
The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) will hold a short-term online training program on International Cultural Heritage Law during September and October. Beginning with the international legal concept of cultural heritage, the training will introduce international legal instruments adopted over recent decades and their roles in addressing major threats such as artifact trafficking, armed conflict, and social development.
Main course topics:
— Cultural heritage as a global concept
— Cultural heritage within the international human rights framework
— Combating illicit trafficking of cultural property
— The economic perspective of cultural heritage: cultural relics as commodities
— Protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict
— Prosecution and punishment of cultural heritage crimes
— Resolution of cultural heritage disputes between states
— Restitution of cultural heritage
Source of text and images: International Heritage Observation
03
11th Berlin Forum on Industrial Heritage and Society to Be Held Soon
The 11th Berlin Forum on Industrial Heritage and Society, organized by the Berlin Center for Industrial Heritage, will be held on September 26 at Berlin Tempelhof Airport as part of the airport’s centennial celebrations. The forum theme is:
“City – Nation – Air: Industrial Heritage Landscapes of Aviation — History and Diverse Perspectives”
Topics include:
— Emerging global construction technologies and material types and their mutually reinforcing relationships
— Successful European adaptive reuse cases
— Social responses to massive open spaces
— Typical spatial characteristics of traditional airports
Source of text and images: China ICOMOS
04
21st ICOMOS General Assembly and Scientific Symposium Held in Australia
From September 4 to 8, the 21st ICOMOS General Assembly and Scientific Symposium was held at the International Convention Centre Sydney in Australia. More than 1,400 delegates, experts, and scholars from over 100 national committees participated, alongside 56 side events and activities. ICOMOS China participated throughout the event.
At the scientific symposium, dozens of experts and scholars from Chinese universities, research institutes, and overseas Chinese students presented papers and speeches on the conference’s nine themes. Topics included monument conservation and utilization, digital preservation and display, historic urban renewal, and applications of advanced technology, showcasing the latest achievements in cultural heritage conservation practice and research both in China and abroad.
Chinese scholars also participated in scientific committee meetings on historic towns, vernacular architecture, cultural landscapes, cultural routes, cultural tourism, digital documentation, shared heritage, and intangible cultural heritage.
Source of text and images: China ICOMOS
05
45th Session of the World Heritage Committee Opens
On the evening of September 10 local time, the extended 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee opened in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture and Science Badr, together with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, attended the opening ceremony.
The meeting will be held in Riyadh from September 10 to 25 and is the first in-person World Heritage Committee meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic. The session will review 24 nominations originally scheduled for 2022 and 26 nominations for 2023, totaling 50 World Heritage nomination projects, including five extensions.
Tentative schedule for the 45th World Heritage Committee session:
September 11: Committee work begins
September 12–13: Review of 55 properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger to determine whether they should remain listed
September 14–16 morning: Review of 263 properties already on the World Heritage List to determine whether sites such as “Venice and its Lagoon” should be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger
September 16 morning–20: Review of 50 nomination projects
September 24: Decision on the date and location of the 2024 World Heritage Committee session
September 25: Official closing of the session
Source of text and images: Love World Heritage
Domestic Heritage News
01
“Dunhuang Forum: The Global Significance of Dunhuang Studies Research and Promotion” Held in Dunhuang, Gansu
From September 6 to 7, the academic symposium “Dunhuang Forum: The Global Significance of Dunhuang Studies Research and Promotion” was held in Dunhuang, Gansu Province.
On September 6, Li Gang, Vice Governor of Gansu Province, attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks.
The forum was hosted by the Publicity Department of the Gansu Provincial Committee and the Gansu Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration, and organized by the Dunhuang Academy. More than 100 experts and scholars from China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Turkey, South Korea, Iran, and other countries and regions gathered in Dunhuang to discuss expanding research on Dunhuang culture and promoting Dunhuang cultural arts from an international perspective.
On September 7, scholars discussed topics including ethnic interaction and integration along the ancient Silk Road, exchanges and mutual learning among Silk Road multicultural arts, and the important contributions of contemporary Dunhuang studies to strengthening the sense of a Chinese national community and building a community with a shared future for humanity. Participants presented the latest international achievements in Dunhuang studies and explored the global significance of researching and promoting Dunhuang culture.
Source of text and images: National Cultural Heritage Administration
02
Cultural Heritage Protection Forum on “Harmony and Mutual Learning Among Civilizations” Held in Beijing
On September 5, the Cultural Heritage Protection Forum themed “Harmony and Mutual Learning Among Civilizations” was held in Beijing. The forum was hosted by the National Cultural Heritage Administration, China Daily, and the Asia News Network, and organized by the NCHA News Center and others.
Chinese and international guests discussed “Mutual Learning Among Civilizations: Our Shared Responsibility,” delivering speeches on topics such as implementing the Global Civilization Initiative, revitalizing cultural relics, the global vision and China’s responsibilities in international communication, using journalism to combat “historical amnesia,” international exchange and cooperation in Chinese cultural heritage, and the international conservation campaign for Angkor monuments. The speeches vividly explained the profound meaning of harmonious coexistence and mutual learning among civilizations.
More than 200 representatives from the Asia News Network, cultural heritage institutions, embassies and consulates in China, media organizations, and universities attended the event.
Source of text and images: National Cultural Heritage Administration
03
International Symposium on Silk Road Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection Held in Xi’an
On August 30, under the guidance of the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration, the Shaanxi Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, and the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education, Northwest University hosted the 2023 International Symposium on Silk Road Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Protection in Xi’an.
The conference is a concrete measure for implementing the Xi’an Declaration of the China–Central Asia Summit and serves as an important platform for expanding cultural exchange and cooperation along the Silk Road. Through the symposium, organizers hope to promote archaeological research and cultural heritage conservation along the Silk Road and strengthen people-to-people exchanges among countries along the route.
The symposium focused on key topics in Silk Road archaeology and cultural heritage protection. Participating scholars discussed archaeological research on ancient agricultural and nomadic civilizations across Eurasia and studies of Silk Road cultural heritage.
Source of text and images: Northwest University
04
6th Hunan–Hubei–Jiangxi–Anhui Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Opens in Nanchang, Jiangxi
On the evening of September 8, the 6th Hunan–Hubei–Jiangxi–Anhui Intangible Cultural Heritage Joint Exhibition opened in the Wanshou Palace Historic and Cultural District in Nanchang. The event was jointly hosted by the Departments of Culture and Tourism of Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Anhui Provinces, together with the Nanchang Municipal People’s Government.
The exhibition theme is “Inheritance and Innovation · Integration and Sharing.” A series of activities were carefully arranged, including public performances of intangible cultural heritage programs and displays of representative intangible cultural heritage projects.
Through the concept of “seeing people, seeing objects, seeing everyday life,” the exhibition comprehensively and vividly showcased the latest achievements in intangible cultural heritage preservation and transmission across the four provinces.
Source of text and images: The Paper
05
Third Batch of China Industrial Heritage Protection List Released
On the 13th, the third batch of the China Industrial Heritage Protection List was released in Beijing. The list was jointly selected by the Innovation Strategy Research Institute of the China Association for Science and Technology, the Urban Planning Society of China, and other national academic organizations and universities. A total of 100 industrial heritage sites were included.
The third batch focuses on “Red Industrial Heritage” within the process of Chinese modernization. It includes 100 pioneering, leading, and landmark industrial heritage sites such as the Chengdu–Chongqing Railway, the Malan Base, and Bohai Shipyard. The sites span transportation, military nuclear industry, metallurgy and mining, energy and chemicals, machinery manufacturing and processing, light industry, aerospace, shipbuilding, and architecture. They are distributed across multiple provinces, with concentrations in Southwest, Central, Northeast, and North China.
At the release event, the first list of engineers behind China’s industrial heritage was also announced, recognizing 86 engineers including Zhuang Xindan, Lu Xiaopeng, and Sun Jiadong who made significant contributions to the engineering projects associated with the third batch of industrial heritage sites.
Source of text and images: Xinhua News Agency
Compiled by: Lü Jiaxin
Editors: Lü Jiaxin, Park Lina
Reviewed by: Li Guanghan, Wang Siyu
Final Review: Shen Ruiwen, Zhang Jianwei
