To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (Beijing) under UNESCO and the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University are organising a series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Convention. These events aim to explore how World Heritage sites can meet the challenges of today's complex global social landscape and discuss the future of World Heritage with colleagues from various fields. Starting September 12, the Liangzhu Lecture Series 2022 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention — "The Development and Future of Archaeological Sites" — will be launched successively. This event is co-organised by the Hangzhou Liangzhu Archaeological Site Management Area Administrative Committee, the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (Beijing) under UNESCO (WHITRAP-Beijing), and the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University; hosted by the Liangzhu Museum (Liangzhu Research Institute) and the Peking University Public Archaeology and Art Centre; co-organised by the Peking University Centre for Cultural Heritage Research; and supported by the Liangzhu Culture Protection and Research Foundation.
The event is divided into two parts: online lectures and offline salons, spanning nearly a month. Domestic and international experts will be invited to discuss the protection, management, and construction of archaeological sites, and to share their thoughts on the development and future of archaeological sites.
Live Stream Preview of the 4th Lecture
On September 21, 2022, at 19:00, the fourth lecture in this series will be delivered by Dr Francesco Bandarin, former Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO.
Details
Topic: Archaeology in the World Heritage Convention
Speaker: Francesco Bandarin
Moderator & Interpreter: Li Guanghan | Assistant Director, World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (Beijing), UNESCO
Time: September 21, 2022 (Wednesday), 19:00–21:00
Live Streaming Platforms: Liangzhu Museum Weibo, Liangzhu Ancient City (WeChat Video Channel)
About the Speaker
Francesco Bandarin is an architect and urban planner specializing in urban conservation. He holds degrees in Architecture (IUAV Venice) and Urban and Regional Planning (UC Berkeley). From 1980 to 2016, he was Professor of Urban Planning and Urban Conservation at the University of Venice (IUAV). From 2000 to 2010, he served as Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Secretary of the World Heritage Convention. From 2010 to 2018, he was UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and a Senior Advisor to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
He serves on the boards of ICOMOS Italy, ICOM Italy, and the Fondazione per l’Economia della Cultura - Santa Tagata in Turin. He has chaired and served on numerous international juries and committees, including the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Shenzhen Creative Design Award (SCDA), and the Getty Conservation Institute.
His recent publications include: The Historic Urban Landscape: Managing Heritage in an Urban Century (2012) and Reconnecting the City: The Historic Urban Landscape Approach and the Future of Urban Heritage (2015, co-authored with Ron van Oers, Wiley Blackwell). He also co-edited with Ana Pereira Roders a comprehensive volume on the historic urban landscape experience, Reshaping Urban Conservation, published by Springer in 2019.
Lecture Abstract
Archaeology has always been at the core of UNESCO's cultural policy, even before the focus on heritage emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. With the adoption of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, many archaeological sites began to be inscribed on the World Heritage List, bringing world archaeology to the forefront of public attention. During the first 20 years of the Convention's implementation, the interest of experts and member states was mainly focused on the "monumental" archaeology of classical civilizations in the Mediterranean, Asia, and the Americas. Prehistoric archaeology was largely absent, with the exception of rock art, which attracted the interest of the World Heritage Convention from the very beginning. This situation has changed over the past two decades with the launch of the Human Evolution project by UNESCO. This has led to significant progress and represents the direction of UNESCO's work in the coming years.
