5th Heritage Forum of Central Europe: Heritage and Environment

The objective of the fifth edition of the Forum was a reflection on the multidimensional relationships between heritage and the environment – widely understood as everything that surrounds us, both in its tangible aspect as well as its social and cultural one. The environment was debated in the widest possible sense – first of all, as the natural environment. This meaning was especially emphasised, primarily in the context of the increasing reflection of many societies over their own role or significance within nature and their awareness of being a threat to it. Nature and heritage are intertwined in many various ways: in both a negative and a positive sense. The second meaning of the term “environment” reflected upon during the proceedings was its anthropogenic meaning: as the environment created by people and their community.

Many scholars representing both the humanities and the life sciences were invited to take part in the 5th Heritage Forum. The selection of speakers was based on an open call for papers, for which 88 paper proposals were submitted; those which most suited the subject matter of the conference were chosen for presentation. During the two-days’ proceedings, 52 papers from 15 countries were presented (the Czech Republic, Estonia, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Malta, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Hungary, Great Britain and Italy), in parallel session, divided into specific subjects: Canals and Rivers; Heritage, Landscape and Environment; Heritage and Tourism; Intangible Heritage; Parks and Gardens; Heritage: Natural? Cultural? Both?; Landscape and Conflict; (Eco)Museums; Heritage and Local/Global Communities; Architecture and Landscape; Cityscapes and Urban Environment; Memory, Identity and Space; Heritage and “Wastelands”.

The Forum also offered two plenary lectures open to the public. The way in which water heritage can help solving contemporary problems with water was discussed in the lecture: Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage. Past, Present and Future by Professor Carola Hein and Dr Tino Mager, specialists from the Chair of History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, sharing with the public, their historic and contemporary experience in this respect. Professor Gabriele Dolff-Bonekämper from the Technical University Berlin gave a lecture, Shifting Frames of Heritage. Spaces, Places and Stories, inspired by the theory of Maurice Halbwach (1877–1945), a French sociologist and cultural scientist, a precursor of the contemporary study of memory: the lecture connected his famous theory with contemporary debates about the disputable places of memory.

In addition, the proceedings were rounded off with eight expert lectures delivered by specialists invited to speak at the Forum: Dr Adam Izdebski and Dr Rafał Szmytka from the Institute of History, Jagiellonian University, in a talk with Professor Jacek Purchla presented the most important theses from the book they edited, titled Ekobiografia Krakowa [The Eco-biography of Kraków]. Dr Hana Skokanová from the Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Horticulture presented a historic landscape, its state of preservation and methods of protecting it, using a Czech example. Professor Nijolė Strakauskaitė from the Lithuanian Klaipėda University shared the planes of the reconstruction of the castle in Klaipėda, whilst Ágnes Balog, who represented the Apor Vilmos Catholic College in Vác discussed the need to teach sensitivity to cultural and natural heritage to children through play, creation and first of all, by experience, and presented methods for doing it. Dr Michał Kępski, from the TRAKT Cultural Tourism Centre in Poznań characterised a comprehensive approach to the issue of heritage and the role of museums in its preservation. Professor Marie-Theres Albert from the Institute of Heritage Studies in Berlin talked about the creation of a European identity by means of education connected with cross-border entries on the UNESCO World Heritage List using the example of the Muskau Park. The presentation of Dr Artur Chojnacki, representative of the Office of the Citizens’ Committee for the Restoration of the Historical Monuments of Kraków, presenting the role of nature in Kraków, found its further continuation in the closing lecture of the 5th Heritage Forum delivered by the Deputy Director of the Kraków Municipal Greenspace Authority, Łukasz Pawlik. The speaker presented the current actions of the city authorities with regards to municipal green areas, consisting in the revitalisation of those areas and the founding of new parks.

After the closure of the technical part, the conference participants were invited to a study visit organised in collaboration with the Municipal Greenspace Authority showing objects of landscaping architecture in the woods of Sikornik and to see the currently organised Centre for Ecological Education, “Symbioza” [“Symbiosis”] at a display in the Okocimski Pavilion in a forest clearing in the Wolski Forest.

On account of the 450th anniversary of the Union of Lublin, a special place at the 5th Heritage Forum was proposed for our North-Eastern neighbours. Among the participants, there were six speakers from Lithuania, with the Deputy Minister of Culture, Dr Ingrida Veliutė among them. The first day of proceedings was closed with an event, open to the public, entitled In Search of Lithuania’s Multicultural Heritage which was a meeting with Dr Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, a Lithuanian writer and art historian, author of the best-selling tetralogy Silva rerum, who won the hearts of the audience with her story about the Lithuanian natural environment, historic objects, the way they are perceived and about her own writing, so rooted in the natural and social environment of Lithuania.

For those who were interested in the Forum’s subject matter, there was the option to participate without presenting a paper, which was used by 28 people representing four countries: Indonesia, Norway, Poland and Ukraine. In total 100 persons took part in the conference, including three representatives of the Working Group and also the culture attaché at the Embassy of the Lithuanian Republic in Poland.