International Heritage News
01 Latest Progress on the 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee: Saudi Princess Appointed as Chairperson
After the resignation of Alexander Kuznetsov from Russia, Chairperson of the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, Princess Haifa Al Mogrin, Saudi Arabia's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, has taken over as the official Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee. This means that the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, which had been delayed due to the situation between Russia and Ukraine, is finally getting back on track.
Image and Text Source: Loving World Heritage
02 UNESCO World Heritage Committee Holds 17th Extraordinary Session
On December 12, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held its 17th Extraordinary Session. The session was chaired by Princess Haifa Al-Mogrin, Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative to UNESCO, who took over as Committee Chairperson on November 23. The session concluded that the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, originally scheduled for June 19-30, 2022, could no longer be held in 2022 after being postponed on April 22. The session proposed holding an extraordinary meeting in January next year to study and determine the format and arrangements for the 45th session.
Image and Text Source: International Heritage Watch
03 Vatican Returns Parthenon Statues to the Acropolis of Athens
On December 16, Pope Francis announced that the Vatican would return all Parthenon marble fragments housed in the Vatican Museums to Greece. The Pope described the return as a "gift" to the Greek Orthodox Archbishop, hoping to bring the two churches closer together. Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the Pope's decision to return the statues.
Built in the 5th century BC, the Parthenon is one of the most important monuments of the Acropolis of Athens, a UNESCO World Heritage site. After the Parthenon was destroyed and looted by Venetian forces in 1687, its statues were scattered around the world. The Greek government has been trying to recover the statues since the 20th century.
The three statues returned by Francis include the head of a horse, which was proven to be one of four horses pulling the chariot of the goddess Athena. The second is the head of a young boy, and the last is the head of a bearded man from a carving depicting the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. These statues became part of the Vatican Museums' collection in the 19th century.
Source: Loving World Heritage
04 ICCROM Launches Global Recruitment for Next Director-General
As the current Director-General of ICCROM will step down in 2024, the global recruitment for the next Director-General has been launched. The selection process will be entrusted to a professional firm to screen new leaders with global work experience and management skills. As the leader of 45 multi-national staff at the Rome headquarters, the new Director-General should focus on global issues concerning the protection and promotion of cultural heritage, propose innovative countermeasures and cutting-edge methods for emerging issues, and strengthen relationships with member states and partners. There are no requirements regarding gender, nationality, ethnicity, or religion. The recruitment process will remain open and transparent, built on full communication. The application deadline is January 31, 2023.
Image and Text Source: www.iccrom.org
05 Call for Papers for the 5th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage
Organized by the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage of Korea and the Cultural Heritage Administration, the 5th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage will be held in Gwangju from November 13-18, 2023. The theme is "Challenges of the UN Ocean Decade and Asia-Pacific Maritime Cultural Heritage." The conference aims to align with global discussions on current environmental challenges, explore strategies for the protection and management of underwater cultural heritage in Asia, promote regional cooperation, and share new technologies and ethical issues in underwater archaeology. The deadline for English abstracts is January 30, 2023.
Image and Text Source: International Heritage Watch
Domestic Heritage News
01 Six Cities Including Hong Kong Join the Maritime Silk Road Conservation and World Heritage Nomination City Alliance,
Bringing Total to 34
On December 23, the 2022 Joint Meeting of the City Alliance for the Protection and Joint World Heritage Nomination of the Maritime Silk Road was held in a hybrid online and offline format.
The meeting approved the admission of Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Maoming, Foshan, and Qinzhou into the City Alliance for the Protection and Joint World Heritage Nomination of the Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter referred to as the "Maritime Silk Road Protection and Nomination City Alliance"), bringing the total number of alliance cities to 34. The meeting also approved the "Report on the Protection Status of 'Maritime Silk Road · Chinese Historical Monuments'" and the "Three-Year Action Plan for the Protection and Joint World Heritage Nomination of the Maritime Silk Road (2023-2025)", and designated Huizhou, Guangdong, as the venue for the next conference.
Source: Loving World Heritage
02 Construction of the Northern Branch of the Palace Museum Begins with Total Investment of 2.1238 Billion Yuan
On December 30, a groundbreaking mobilization meeting for the Northern Branch of the Palace Museum was held in Beijing. The project is located in Xiyuhe Village, Xibeiwang Town, Haidian District, Beijing. It is a very large comprehensive museum, with a total land area of 11.56 hectares and a total floor area of 102,000 square meters (64,588.4 square meters above ground and 37,411.6 square meters underground). The main functions of the building are the display, restoration, preservation, and research of cultural relics, visitor services, administrative offices, and corresponding auxiliary facilities. It consists of three buildings: cultural relic display (60,239.9 square meters, 4 floors above ground and 1 floor underground), cultural relic restoration (35,106.8 square meters, 2 floors above ground and 3 floors underground), and office services (6,653.3 square meters, 2 floors above ground and 1 floor underground). The building height is 45 meters, the green space ratio is 30%, and the total project investment is 2.12380 billion yuan.
Image and Text Source: Xinhua Net
03 UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Programme for Asia and the Pacific: Early Archives of Dasheng Textile Mill and
Guizhou Shuishu
The early archives of Dasheng Textile Mill and Guizhou Shuishu documents, along with nine items from South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore, were last month inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Programme for Asia and the Pacific. The early archives of Dasheng Textile Mill (1896-1907) record the social changes and shifting cultural values reflected in the founding and management of the mill at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and are representative among East Asian countries. Guizhou Shuishu is a unique pictographic script used in religious rituals and as religious classics by "Shuishu masters" in the mountainous areas of southern China. The inscription of this item holds special significance for the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032).
Image and Text Source: www.mowcapunesco.org
04 Chongqing Jingzhu and Guangxi Dazhai Selected as 2022 UNWTO Best Tourism Villages
Chongqing Jingzhu and Guangxi Dazhai were recently selected as 2022 Best Tourism Villages by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The award recognizes villages that embrace tourism as an opportunity for development and job creation, while protecting and promoting community-based values and products. Selection criteria include cultural and natural resource endowment, economic-social-environmental sustainability, tourism development and value chain integration, and health and safety. This year, a total of 136 villages from around the world participated. 32 villages from 18 countries, including Austria, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland, were selected. The selected villages will join the UNWTO Global Network of Best Tourism Villages, receive online and offline training, and share best practices.
Image and Text Source: www.unwto.org; International Heritage Watch
05 Center News: "Community Participation and Education in Yannan Garden Protection and Environmental Improvement"
Project Wins Award
On the evening of December 13, the UNESCO Asia-Pacific World Heritage Training and Research Center and the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) International Centre jointly held the International Sharing Session for the 2022 "Global Heritage Education Innovation Case Award", announcing the winners. Among them, the project "Community Participation and Education in the Protection and Environmental Improvement of Yannan Garden" at Peking University won the "Star of the Future Award".
Dr. Li Guanghan, Assistant Director of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific World Heritage Training and Research Center (Beijing), participated in the Protection Plan for Dali Historical and Cultural Village, Zaima Township, Rongjiang County (2019-2035), which won the First Prize of Guizhou Province's 2021 Excellent Urban and Rural Planning and Design Award.
Image and Text Source: Cultural Heritage Research, Peking University
