International Day for Monuments and Sites 2025 – Heritage under Threat from Disasters and Conflicts: Preparedness and Learning from 60 years of ICOMOS Actions
At the 2023 General Assembly in Sydney, Disaster and Conflict Resilient Heritage – Preparedness, Response and Recovery was selected as the theme for the Triennial Scientific Plan (TSP) 2024-2027. The first year of the plan focuses on how we can prepare for possible disasters, through the prevention and mitigation of hazards, improving resilience, as well as by preparing for conflicts that threaten our cherished heritage resources.
In this context, one might ask in 2025: How can members and constituent Committees of ICOMOS better prepare for these disasters? What role can we play collectively, and what do we need to be effective in that work?
Following on from the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Venice Charter in 2024, ICOMOS will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2025. The Second Congress of Architects and Specialists of Historic Buildings, held in Venice in 1964, adopted 13 resolutions, the first being the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, better known as the Venice Charter, and the second, put forward by UNESCO, was the creation of ICOMOS in 1965.
The International Day for Monuments and Sites (IDMS), celebrated each year on 18 April, provides us with a unique opportunity to raise awareness of our organization and the work we do to conserve and protect the world’s universally significant cultural resources under threat of accelerating disasters and conflicts. The 2025 IDMS celebrations will therefore focus on the 60 years of ICOMOS actions in relation to safeguarding heritage under threat of disasters and conflicts as well as its future objectives in prevention, mitigation, preparation, emergency response, and recovery that we can take to safeguard heritage in times of crisis. The 2025 IDMS activities and recognition of our work over the last 60 years will conclude with the Symposium of the ICOMOS Annual General Assembly (Nepal, 13-19 October 2025).
While ICOMOS will celebrate the theme of Heritage under Threat of Disasters and Conflicts: Preparedness and Learning from 60 years of ICOMOS Actions non-ICOMOS organisations, institutions, NGOs are also invited to acknowledge the IDMS under the overarching theme of Disaster and Conflict Resilient Heritage and are encouraged to share their experiences, events, publications and outcomes of discussions with ICOMOS members and the International Secretariat. This collaboration will help to raise awareness and assist in the identification of the wide range of scientific and traditional practices worldwide that contribute to the protection of heritage in extreme and extraordinary circumstances.
Get involved!
ICOMOS members and heritage professionals are welcome to (i) consider the potential impacts on heritage resources by conflict and disaster; (ii) examine what resilience looks like in the face of those impacts; (iii) and what one can do to PREPARE from your national and scientific perspectives. This involves the examination of previous actions undertaken by ICOMOS committees since 1965; and future actions ICOMOS members and others in our communities can consider in the protection of heritage against disasters and conflicts.
Some of the activities might include inventorying, collecting data on damage and losses and assessment of vulnerabilities; understanding risks and building corresponding capacities; collaboration between stakeholders; communication between relevant agencies in the heritage and disaster risk management sectors; traditional knowledge on disaster risk mitigation and preparedness; inventorying successful practices and examples in preparedness.
ICOMOS Committees are called upon to organise and collaborate on events on the theme of PREPAREDNESS of resilient heritage in the face of conflict and disaster by considering ICOMOS Actions over the last 60 years.
Members can share their events with ICOMOS by writing to: communication[at]icomos.org
Potential formats for participation can include, but are not limited to:
- 1 to 2 minutes (maximum) video submissions from each ICOMOS National Committee, International Scientific Committee, Working Groups and individual members, showcasing local and regional approaches to caring for heritage in advance of conflicts and disasters. The videos may be shared with communication[at]icomos.org. Make sure to include descriptions, quotes or facts to accompany any video, as well as hashtags.
- Photographic submission with credits and captions to explain current conservation practice approaches, changing narratives and goals for the future of cultural heritage, to adapt to the urgent demands of PREPAREDNESS in the face of conflict and disaster. In all cases, please make sure that you retain the rights to any image you share.
- Organise virtual roundtables, host webinars, propose workshops to reflect on the gaps in current theory and conservation practice for culture heritage when PREPARING for conflicts or disasters, engaging government agencies, industries, and inviting other stakeholders to join the discussion.
Events, activities and other inputs may be reviewed and shared on the ICOMOS website, social media platforms and the annual report of ICOMOS.
Active participation by members and committees on the International Day for Monuments and Sites (IDMS) is an opportunity to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of ICOMOS and the valuable work its members conduct.