The future of the heritage in focus at conference in Amsterdam

The focus of the conference was what role cultural heritage plays in the relationship between today's and future society. What became clear in the discussions is that cultural heritage is something that is emotional and personal.

”When planning the cultural heritage for future generations, we need to think more about how our work will affect future generations, or whether it is above all our own emotional desire to take care of the cultural heritage that governs. We probably need to think about a lot about what we do when we take care of the cultural heritage in society ” says Cornelius Holtorf, Professor of archeology and holder of the UNESCO Chair.

Cornelius, who was one of the organizers, feels that it inspired the work of the UNESCO Chair, thanks to the participants' experiences from all over the world.

"It gave us the opportunity to develop our global network even more, which will be useful in meeting our goals within the UNESCO profession" says Cornelius.

Participants came, except from several European countries, from Australia, the Philippines, India, Mexico, Brazil and Nigeria amongst others. The conference was opened by Marielies Schelhaas, Secretary General of the Dutch UNESCO Council, and it also included a conclusion speech by Professor Toshiyuki Kono, chairman of ICOMOS International. ICOMOS is a global expert organization that, among other things, gives advice to UNESCO on issues related to world heritage.