Press Release - 4 July 2016 

On 29 June 2016, the new ICOMOS National Committee in the Russian Federation held its General Conference in the World Heritage historic centre of Saint Petersburg. The General Conference was attended by 47 delegates from 12 regions in the Russian Federation, representing 246 individual members. The previous National Committee had seen its international accreditation withdrawn in 2014.

The revised ICOMOS Statutes adopted in 2014 made the then current Rules of Procedure obsolete in many respects. Taking into account the resolution by the 2014 General Assembly, the ICOMOS Board is seeking to have an initial group of amended Rules of Procedure approved at the Annual General Assembly in Istanbul in October 2016, so that they can be in force for the next Triennial General Assembly in 2017. This first group includes the Rules of Procedure relating to General Assemblies, and those for bidding to host a General Assembly and for assessing the bids.

The call for papers for the Advisory Committee Symposium on “Post-disaster reconstruction” that will take place on the occasion of the Annual General Assembly and Advisory Committee in Istanbul, Turkey on 20 October 2016 is now available for download. The deadline for abstracts is 3 June 2016. (Extended deadline - 13 June 2016)

Click here to read the message of Mechtild Rössler, Director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, on the International Day for Monuments and Sites, celebrated every year on 18 April.

Photo : Archaeological Site of Olympia © UNESCO / Yvon Fruneau

As foreshadowed at last year’s Annual General Assembly in Fukuoka, the ICOMOS Board is intending to call an Extraordinary General Assembly in conjunction with the forthcoming Annual General Assembly taking place in Istanbul in October 2016, for the purpose of making some minor amendments to the ICOMOS Statutes. The formal notice of meeting will be sent in June.