The on-going crisis and fighting in the Middle East are giving rise to humanitarian consequences of an unprecedented scale since the World Wars. The number of victims, refugees and displaced persons is growing day by day, not to mention the acts of torture, rape, enslavement and the eradication of the traditional cultural diversity of the region.

Public opinion is also moved by the increasing destruction of the cultural heritage of the region that bears witness to early human exploits, the common roots of different civilizations and their mutual enrichment.

On 31 August 2015, Ms Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO visited the Shaanxi Provincial Historical Museum in Xi’an (China). On this occasion, Mr Guo Zhan, former ICOMOS Vice President and Director of the ICOMOS International Conservation Centre -Xi’an (IICC-X), which is run under the aegis of ICOMOS China, introduced Ms Bokova to the work of the IICC-X.

On 23 June 2015, ICOMOS commemorated its 50th anniversary with an event held on the same dates and at the same venue as the 1965 founding General Assembly, in Warsaw, Poland.  

View the photo gallery of the official 50th anniversary celebration / Download the group photo - 23 June 2015, Warsaw, Poland

View the photo gallery of the founding General Assembly in 1965 

This publication is the fruit of the collaboration between IUCN and ICOMOS to improve their work and expertise in the framework of their World heritage programmes.

3 June 2015 
The Blue Shield, of which ICOMOS is a founding partner, has issued a statement on the situation of heritage in Yemen in response to recent damages suffered by the cultural heritage in this country due to the ongoing conflict, and in particular the destruction of the Marib Dam, included on the World Heritage tentative list, through an airstrike. 

Download the Statement in: 

English - French - Spanish - Arabic