Warsaw Recommendation – Introduction to Heritage Recovery Online Workshop Session

The Warsaw Recommendation on Recovery and Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage was developed at the conference entitled “The Challenges of World Heritage Recovery” held in Warsaw in May 2018. The event was attended by more than 200 participants representing all UNESCO regions. For the first time, in the capital of Poland, representatives of UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, UNISDR, the World Bank, and the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, met to discuss challenges in reconstruction and recovery of cultural heritage damaged in the result of natural disasters or conflict.

The Warsaw Recommendation has consolidated an approach to recovery viewed as a social process. It integrates the issues of cultural heritage preservation into the discourse on development, and takes a stance in the debate concerning remembrance. These issues have recently gained greater importance, as the occurrence of damage to human cultural heritage has increased, both as a result of armed conflicts and natural disasters.

The ongoing War in Ukraine is the most recent example of deliberate destruction of cultural heritage. Since February, over 500 cases of damage to historical residential buildings, churches and cultural institutions have been reported. The devastation of each of these sites and establishments definitely amounts to an irreversible loss of a vital component of Europe's cultural heritage.

Building upon the Polish experience of the post-war recovery, UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the National Institute of Cultural Heritage has initiated further discussion on the principles of recovery and reconstruction of cultural heritage affected by war atrocities.

As we see that the scale of destruction of Ukrainian cities such as Mariupol or Kharkiv is comparable to that of Warsaw or Gdańsk found in the year 1945, we wish to offer the case study of cultural heritage recent recovery, including the post-World War II recovery in Poland,  as a point of departure for exchange and reflection on the future of Ukrainian cultural heritage recovery.

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre, The Polish Support Center for Culture in Ukraine at the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, with the assistance and co-operation of both Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and ICCROM invites you to join an online session “The Warsaw Recommendation – Introduction to Heritage Recovery”. The workshop will be held in 3 sessions focusing on case studies, regional and institutional cooperation, as well as challenges and opportunities in digitzation, documentation or holistic approach to heritage recovery. The event will be attended by experts from UNESCO, ICCROM, Marche Polytechnic University and the National Institute of Cultural Heritage. Our primary goal is to create a space for discussion, exchange of expertise with Ukrainian experts, as well as at familiarising the participants with the principles of the Warsaw Recommendation.

Details:

Title: The Warsaw Recommendation – Introduction to Heritage Recovery

Time: 24 November 2022, 9.30-13.30 (CET)

Languages: English

Registration: https://app.evenea.pl/event/thewarsawrecommendation/?lang=en

Participation in the webinar is free of charge but requires registration. The link to the meeting will be sent by e-mail upon registration.

Organisers:

UNESCO World Heritage Centre, The Polish Support Center for Culture in Ukraine at the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in co-operation with ICCROM.

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