Rethink Heritage

The Council of Europe adopted the document titled the 'European Cultural Heritage Strategy For The 21st Century' on 22nd February 2017 and since then it has been the main collection of guidelines for the member states in connection with their cultural and cultural heritage-related policy, by forcing and suggesting joint actions for the European countries. 

The Strategy is a direct continuation of the series of actions and declarations formerly delivered by the Council in order to help organise the European cultural heritage on a higher and broader level than the scope and possibilities of the individual members. Joint action is especially required because the isolated member states are not powerful enough to face the challenges alone. The common evaluation of both the problems and the measures chosen for tackling these issues can build important synergies, while trying to deliver harmonious and consistent actions with an integrated approach.

An important event of this series of actions was the European Heritage Year held in 1975 which later concluded with the European Charter of the Architectural Heritage (Charter of Amsterdam). Besides that, the Council of Europe is also responsible for the implementation and follow-up of the following conventions:

• the European Cultural Convention (1954);
• the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (1985); 
• the European Convention for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (1992); 
• the European Landscape Convention (2000); 
• the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (2005). 

The theoretical and political-philosophical background of the Strategy had been already clearly declared in the Namur declaration in 2015. This includes core values such as: democratic values, good governance, inclusion of the civil society, respect for human rights & fundamental freedoms, equal dignity of all persons, openness and dialogue and sensitivity to diversity. Namur declaration also outlines the concept and the main structure of the planned document, enumerating the key challenges such as climate change and societal changes and also sets down the main guidelines in connection with the main themes of the Strategy from societal to economical ones.

The Strategy takes into account the following types of challenges, seeking for relevant responses to these kinds of threats:

• climate change and the growing number of man-made or natural disasters;
• societal challenges, such as demographic changes, problems of intergenerational divisions and isolationism;
• political challenges such as the violations of values of freedom and democracy;
• economic challenges and the threat of an economic crisis;
• the spread of mass tourism at a global level.

The document considers that cultural heritage plays a key role in refocusing European societies. Intercultural dialogues, the respect for the different identities and diversity, as well as the feeling of belonging to a community of values provide a good basis for this initiative. Cultural heritage also means a key factor in social and economical development and an invaluable resource in the field of education, employment, tourism and the sustainable forms of development. 

The system of the Strategy is organised around three priority components which can be illustratively portrayed as three circles which interface with each other in four areas. The three components are as follows: the Social, the Territorial & Economic and the Knowledge & Education component. The Social component's main goal is the promotion of participatory (good) governance that is realised with the involvement of the civil society, with respecting and promoting diversity and empowering heritage communities. Catchwords of the Territorial & Economic component are sustainable development, employment, tourism and the exploitation of the local resources. Finally, the Knowledge & Education component's keywords are lifelong learning, research, the establishment of knowledge centres and the development of teaching and training programmes. 

On the following pages we are examining the three challenges and the recommendations provided by the Council of Europe.