Looking back on 18 April 2022 | Thank you!
On 18 April 2022, we celebrated the International Day for Monuments and Sites with the theme of “Heritage and Climate”. ICOMOS National Committee, International Scientific Committees, Working Groups, partners and supporters around the globe participated through events, video and photographic submission. More than 50 events were organized!
18 April 2022 on Social Media
The International Day for Monuments and Sites was widely celebrated on social media!
The IDMS hashtags such as #18April, #IDMS2022, #icomosIDMS2022 and #InternationalDayforMonumentsandSites were widely used on social media. The hashtag #IDMS2022 was used more than 500 times on Twitter, and the hashtag #icomosIDMS2022 was used more than 400 times on the same platform.
18 April 2022 by ICOMOS members
ICOMOS President Teresa Patricio shared a special message on Heritage and Climate on the occasion of the International Day of Monuments and Sites.
You can also watch in French and Spanish.
We also invite you to watch Stacy Vallis, member of the ICOMOS Board and member of the ICOMOS Emerging Professionals Working Group (EPWG), and Yolo Lucio Orizaga and Süheyla Koç, EPWG secretaries, share the climate change initiatives that EPWG members have participated in within the ICOMOS network.
Highlights of 18 April Events
ICOMOS thanks all the organizers and participants who contributed to this celebration and explore the theme Heritage and Climate and showcased how heritage can be a source of knowledge that can be employed to address climate change. Below is a selection of the many 18 April 2022 events.
ICOMOS Azerbaijan
For 18 April 2022, ICOMOS Azerbaijan organized discussion forum at the International Mugham Center with special guests ICOMOS Vice-President Zeynep Gul Unal and Assistant Professor of Yildiz Technical University Banu Celebioglu as panelists. They all talked about the climate change effects on cultural heritage, the restoration practices and the importance of ICOMOS National Committees.
ICOMOS China
On April 18th, 2022, the online forum on the theme of "Heritage and Climate" was held under the guidance of the Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage, China, jointly organized by the ICOMOS International Conservation Center - Xi'an (IICC-X), and the Xi'an Qujiang Daming Palace Heritage Area Preservation and Reconstruction Office. After a warm address from Prof. Toshiyuki Kono, former President of ICOMOS, the speakers from international and Chinese conservation, management and research institutions discussed the conservation and management of the Silk Roads cultural heritages under climate change. Through the sharing of international documents, concepts and methods responding to the threats of cultural heritage conservation under climate change, case studies and experience exchange, the online forum had enhanced the capacity building of Silk Roads heritage sites in dealing with issues such as climate change and its secondary disasters, and moreover enhanced the sustainable development and utilization potential of heritage site in the context of climate change.
ICOMOS Comores
ICOMOS Comoros celebrated the International Day on Monuments and Sites by organising an event in collaboration with the CNDRS (The National Centre for Documentation and Scientific Research of Comoros) on the theme Heritage and Climate through open constructive and intergenerational dialogues. For this day, marking the first membership of ICOMOS Comoros as a National Committee, was programmed an open day at the National Museum, the Library and the National Archives followed by an exhibition on the historical Sultanates of the Comoros.
Our members in Egypt
This year's celebration was organized by "Abu Simbel 50 Campaign" and the "Architectural Heritage - Cultural Identity | Egypt" with ICE Group under the auspices of the Cultural Committee of the Department of Architecture at “MUST” (Misr University for Science and Technology), in cooperation with the Fayoum Art Center. More than 90 people participated in the event, ranging from students, specialists and non-specialists yet interested in heritage, and ICOMOS members. The day had been divided in two main events: a cultural trip to the pottery area in Al-Nazlah village with the visit to the Nazlah Revitalization Project - awarded with numerous international awards and nominated for the Aga Khan Award for the current cycle (2022) - and a panel discussion held at Tunis Village, at the Fayoum Art Center.
ICOMOS Estonia
ICOMOS Estonia in collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Arts celebrated the International Day of Monuments and Sites with a working day in an abandoned bastion passage. They were joined by the President of Estonia, Mr Alar Karis.
ICOMOS Georgia
In Tsibili, ICOMOS Georgia invited students, emerging professionals and craftsmen to participate in the workshop on ‘Traditional masonry earth-based mortar and techniques’ within the annual series of workshops on Traditional Building materials! The two-day certified workshop raised awareness on ICOMOS activities in regard to climate change, and on the role of the cultural heritage in climate action, results of the studies on mortar, experience sharing on Tbilisi dwellings construction material - mortar characteristics, its preparation techniques and use.
ICOMOS Lebanon
ICOMOS Lebanon organized a cultural awareness workshop for the students of the Zahrat Al Ihsan school in Beirut to engage teens in interactive dialogues so they can discern what is considered heritage, what are the values and knowledge associated with each heritage object or concept, and why and how to protect it. Another objective is to point out how heritage practices differ from contemporary routines in terms of climatic performance, and how we should look into traditional know-how for sustainable practices to fight climate change.
ICOMOS Venezuela
ICOMOS Venezuela celebrated this year’s theme of Heritage and Climate by taking the opportunity to highlight the impact that climate change has had on the Venezuelan case, with climates ranging from coastal, plain and even arid to temperate, cold and icy mountains.
You can find a brief historical review of the most important events related to the Venezuelan cases published on their blog. Some of these have affected properties inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and others on the Tentative List. This is an opportunity to disseminate the awareness and urgency of adopting concrete measures by all nation states to mitigate the effects that in the medium and long term the change of natural climate cycles is having on natural and cultural assets.
18 April is not over yet, some events are taking place until the end of May, check our updated list of events to continue the celebration.
ICOMOS thanks the organizers and participants for making this day memorable and to advance thinking on heritage and climate change.
Photo credits from top to bottom: ICOMOS Comoros © Mouhandhu Mhadiu CNDRS; ICOMOS Vice-President Zeynep Gul Unal visiting the Aghdam district in Azerbaijan © Rashad Aliyev; © ICOMOS International Conservation Center-Xi'an; ICOMOS Comoros © Mouhandhu Mhadiu CNDRS; © Hamdy EL-Setouhy & ICE (MUST) Team; © Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia; © Lasha Shartava; Photos © Lara Maalouf and Lina Karam.
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International Day for Monuments and Sites - 18 April 2022 - Events
18 April 2022 | Heritage and Climate