The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 took off. The start of the year was marked by the European Culture Forum, a biennial flagship event on cultural cooperation that took place in Milan on 7-8 December 2017.
During this event, the EU Commissioner, Tibor Navracsics, in charge of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport underlined the importance of Europeโs cultural heritage as an unreplaceable inheritance from the past that European citizens experience in everyday life. This legacy is present in literature, art and monuments as well as in crafts, food and landscapes. It permeates knowledge and skills of people across the continent.
Cultural heritage represents a cornerstone of the European identity, but also a key asset for the future: it creates jobs, encourages investments and promotes social and economic development. According to the recent report Cultural Heritage counts for Europe, an estimated 300,000 people work directly in the cultural heritage sector in the EU and 7.8 million jobs are created indirectly by the sector.
The purpose of the Year is to celebrate Europeโs diverse cultural heritage and encourage the efforts to protect it and preserve it for the future generations. Through several initiatives and projects promoted in the members states and on a transnational level, the European Year will also explore new ways to share cultural heritage, to valorize it and re-imagine it to benefit individuals and communities.
An important share of Europeโs cultural heritage is being preserved in mountain areas. It represents also for them a strategic resource with a great potential. New tools and practices related to the conservation and valorization of cultural heritage in mountain areas can promote innovation and socio-economic development and enhance the wellbeing of local communities and society at large.
Euromontana decided to address this topic during the XI European Mountain Convention that will take place on 25-27 September 2018 in Vatra Dornei, Romania.
The conference will promote the contribution of mountain areas in preserving and re-imagining Europeโs cultural heritage to disclose larger perspectives, create opportunities and address the common challenges of the future.
Further information about the next European Mountain Convention in Vatra Dornei will soon be available on Euromontanaโs website.
For more information about the European Year of Cultural Heritage, please consult its website.
18 December 2017
