18 April 2006: The International Day for Monuments and Sites
Every year the Intentional Council on Monuments and Sites celebrates the 18th of April as the International Day for Monuments and Sites.
2006 the theme will be Industrial Heritage:
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- Considering the interest of ICOMOS for all forms of monuments, sites and ensembles related to human activities, including the industries of various historical periods, whose recognition and conservation are affected by specific factors,
- Considering the collaboration between ICOMOS and TICCIH (The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage) whose General Assembly held in 2003 in Nizhny Tagil (Russia) adopted a statement on the conservation of such heritage which has been distributed for information to participants at the 15th General Assembly of ICOMOS,
- Considering the decision of the Executive Committee to identify the Heritage of Production as the theme for the 2006 International Day on Monuments and Sites (18 April),
The 15th General Assembly of ICOMOS, meeting in Xi’an, China in October 2005 resolves to :
- Support the suggestion of the Executive Committee on the theme of the 2006 International Day on Monuments and Sites and encourage all National and International Committees to organise activities to raise awareness for the industrial heritage and to help its conservation;
- Engage ICOMOS, in co-operation with TICCIH and taking into consideration its principles, in a specific reflection relative to the conservation of the industrial heritage in order to propose guidelines to the 16th General Assembly in 2008.
We call on ICOMOS members and professionals in the preservation field to make this day a global success. Industrial heritage, like other cultural heritage sectors, is threatened all over the world. The rapid economic and industrial changes that have characterized the last two centuries have resulted in numerous sites, often spread over large areas, which have been rendered defunct due to changes in technology or the exhaustion of natural resources. The value of these sites to industrial history and the past centuries is, however, often not well understood and frequently there is a lack of national awareness of the importance of this heritage and above all on the need for citizens to retain its full ownership. Factories, plantations, forges, mines, railways and other forms of industrial heritage are markers of the workplace and production, having equal importance to the religious and domestic sites which are often given priority. Industrial heritage is, in general, at risk of loss through destruction and abandonment, endangering some of the greatest testaments to the creative genius of humanity.
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reference:http://www.international.icomos.org/18april2006.htm
ICOMOS calles this day THE WORLD HERITAGE DAY
More information can be found on this ICOMOS-Website.
Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site reference:WIKIPEDIA, GNU
