1st Heritage Forum of Central Europe

July 7–9, 2011

The first edition of conference took place as an expert meeting within the Polish Presidency of the European Union. The conference was organised in cooperation with the Monument Care Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (Odbor pamatkove peće Ministerstvo kultury Ćeske republiky), the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic (Pamiatkovy urad Slovenskej republiky) and the National Office of Cultural Heritage, Budapest (Kulturalis Óroksegvedelmi Hivatal).

In 2006 the Ministers of Culture of the Visegrad Countries Group nominated the ICC as the coordinator of the Working Group for Cultural Heritage of the Visegrad Group. The starting point for the three-day series of debates and discussions were materials from the conference Protecting and managing cultural heritage. Systems of managing cultural heritage in the Visegrad Group countries, organised by the ICC in 2010. In view of the increasing role of Visegrad cooperation, the organisers intended the Forum Heritage Forum of Central Europę is a new initiative of the International Cultural Centre. The first edition took place as an expert meeting within the Polish Presidency of the European Union. The conference was organised in cooperation with the Monument Care Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic (Odbor pamatkove peće Ministerstvo kultury Ćeske republiky), the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic (Pamiatkovy urad Slovenskej republiky) and the National Office of Cultural Heritage, Budapest (Kulturalis Óroksegvedelmi Hivatal).

In 2006 the Ministers of Culture of the Visegrad Countries Group nomi- nated the ICC as the coordinator of the Working Group for Cultural Heritage of the Visegrad Group. The starting point for the three-day series of debates and discussions were materials from the conference Protecting and managing cultural heritage. Systems of managing cultural heritage in the Visegrad Group countries, organised by the ICC in 2010. In view of the increasing role of Visegrad cooperation, the organisers intended the Forum – the intellectual contributor of the “Visegrad Four” to the issues of European cultural heritage – to become a voice of Central Europę speaking to Brussels about issues of heritage, its protection and management. The 1st edition of the Forum was, above all, to provide an opportunity for a comprehensive review of the 20 years of transformation in culture and heritage in our region, and for pinpointing common problems and challenges in this area.

Invitations were sent to people responsible for defining cultural policy, experts and specialists in protection and management of cultural heritage, as well as guardians and managers of historical sites in Central Europę. Generally speaking, the Forum concerned issues connected with protection and modern management of cultural heritage, focusing on the following aims: identifying current trends and challenges, exchanging views, experiences and good practices, identifying optimum strategies and Solutions, and putting forward recommendations.

These aims were, to a large extent, implemented through the adoption of the Declaration of the 1st Heritage Forum of Central Europę on July 9th 2011, with the official version in English. Recognising cultural heritage as one of the most important factors in the life of societies in the region, the participants emphasised its growing role in promoting a balanced development, including mitigating the results of the financial crisis. But speaking from the perspective of the practitioners, the participants highlighted the necessity of a rapid strengthening of the administration responsible for heritage and creating Systems of managing its resources, so that social change could be more effectively activated with the help of cultural heritage.

The Forum began on July 7th with the introductory panel, Central Europę: Past – Present – Futurę, chaired by Professor Jacek Purchla, with the intent of showing experts and specialists on heritage protection and management a wider Central European perspective as seen by representatives of other disciplines.

The panel was attended by Yuri Andrukhovych (Ivano-Frankivsk), Professor Csaba G. Kiss (Budapest) and Dr. Simona Skrabec (Barcelona). The papers delivered in four thematic sessions on July 8th and 9th, were characterised by high and, importantly, academic ąuality. The participants of the Forum repeatedly expressed the will to cyclically continue the exchange of experiences and good practices, and stressed the interdisciplinary nature of the Kraków meeting.

The following problems were selected as key issues:
Contemporary meanings of heritage – especially observed during the last 20 years in changes of philosophy and interpretation of the concept of cultural heritage; the duality and complementarity of material and non-material heritage; what do we currently understand by heritage?; what are the reasons for the expansion and polarisation of the concept of cultural heritage and the diversity of its interpretations? In what way does heritage satisfy the expectations and aspirations of contemporary societies and communities?

Public responsibility for heritage protection – the role and meaning of public institutions in protection heritage; the trans- formation of Systems of cultural heritage management over the last 20 years, both in the Visegrad Countries and in the broadly conceived Central Europę; an attempt at diagnosing the current State of affairs and defining the tasks facing the systems of heritage protection in Central European countries; what should regarded as optimal Solutions in the above context, and what should be seen as a necessary minimum?

Heritage and society – the role of cultural heritage in social, economic and cultural change and the system transformation of Central Europę, with a particular emphasis on the relation between heritage and social Capital; what is the potential and what are the limitations of heritage as a non-renewable means of raising the quality of life?

What is happening on the ground? Examples of managing monuments and sites in the Central European countries of the Union – examples of local Solutions and good practices in heritage protection, current trends, discussion on improving the forms of heritage protection, especially the owner-manager relation.