ICOMOS Side Events at EU Regions Week: A Summary

ICOMOS took part in this year's European Week of Regions and Cities with two side events respectively on 12 and 14 October 2022:  #QualityforHeritage: Reconstructing Ukraine’s cultural heritage with European Quality Principles and ICOMOS European Quality Principles: Ensuring #QualityforHeritage through sustainable solutions.

Both side events were opportunities for participants to learn more about the ICOMOS document European Quality Principles for EU-funded interventions with Potential Impact upon Cultural Heritage, which provides guidance on quality principles for stakeholders engaged in EU-funded interventions that could impact cultural heritage, mainly built heritage and cultural landscapes.

How can the Quality Principles be used effectively for the hundreds* of heritage sites that have been damaged by the conflict in Ukraine since 24 February? How can Ukrainians make the best use of EU resources for their unique cultural heritage?
The webinar on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its consequences on heritage focused on the introduction to the European Quality Principles, the document’s use in Europe (with European examples), how they can be applied to Ukraine’s reconstruction needs and also lessons from other post-disaster recoveries and reconstructions.

The following speakers contributed to the webinar:
Riin Alatalu, Vice-President of ICOMOS for Europe
Toshiyuki Kono, Honorary President of ICOMOS
Grellan Rourke, moderator, Former Vice-President of ICOMOS for Europe
Erminia Sciacchitano, ICOMOS Italy
Mykola Bevz, ICOMOS Ukraine
Yulia Frolova, ICOMOS Ukraine

The webinar on the theme of the Green Transition gave an overview of ICOMOS’ work on climate action and sustainability and brought context for the Quality Principles as well as their perspectives. The European Commission’s proposal on the recast of the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) was presented, and the participants discussed maintenance as a sustainable way forward for the historic built environment.

The following speakers contributed to the webinar:

Gráinne Shaffrey, ICOMOS Board Member
Peter Cox, ICOMOS Climate Action Working Group
Ondina Taut, ICOMOS Romania
Franziska Haas, ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Energy and Sustainability
James Ritson, ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Energy and Sustainability

ICOMOS would like to thank all of the panellists and participants on making the webinars a success.

Missed the webinars? Check out the recordings on YouTube:

Webinar on Ukraine
Webinar on Green Transition

Photos: © Unsplash: Gleb Albovsky /  Noah Buscher

*Latest UNESCO report, October 2022