12^th Regional Conference of the OWHC

Central and Eastern European Region

Banská Štiavnica

28 – 31 May 2018

The 12th Conference of the Central and Eastern European Member Cities of the OWHC took place in Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia, on 28-31 May, 2018. 26 people representing 19 cities (14 official member cities of the Region), including the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General of the OWHC and a representative of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre participated at the event, the two topics of which was “Tourism and WH cities – advantages and challenges” and “Cooperation within the Central and Eastern European Region – present and future”.
Participating member cities of the Region were: Banská Štiavnica, Bardejov, Budapest, Český Krumlov, Icherisheher, Krakow, Kutná Hora, Rhodes, Riga, Split, Vilnius, Vienna, Warsaw, Zamość. Icherisheher joined the Central and Eastern European Region as a new member and after several years the city of Split also returned to our Region. The ceremonial opening of the conference was connected with the opening of the exhibition of the children’s drawing contest “World Heritage – A Youthful Vision 2018”.
In the first session of the conference presentations and discussions dealt with the positive and negative effects of tourism and with the measures to exploit its advantages reducing its disadvantages.
In the second session OWHC activities and programs (Denis Ricard and Lee Minaidis) and also the regional activities (reports and plans by Ákos Capdebo) were discussed about. Cristina Iamandi, WH consultant from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Paris) presented about good practices in the field of heritage management and enlightened the Historical Urban Landscape (HUL) approach.
The well-organized conference together with its rich cultural program was greatly due the devoted mayor of Banská Štiavnica, Mrs. Nadežda Babiaková and of Ms. Henrieta Godová, councillor in charge of projects and international relations.

„The Mirror of our History is in the World Heritage Cities” –

international primary school program in Banská Štiavnica in May, 2018

The international primary school program was the continuation of the previous international cooperation among World Heritage cities belonging to the Central and Eastern European Region of the OWHC, namely Banská Štiavnica (SK), Budapest (HU), Krakow (PL) and Kutná Hora (CZ), with the intention to include another WH city. 4 pupils (up to 13 years old), one teacher and one project coordinator participated from each city in the seminar aiming to get to know one another’s tangible and intangible heritage.

“Facing Modern Challenges and Youth Involvement” –

secondary school educational seminar in Krakow in June, 2018

The secondary school educational seminar was held on 31 May-4 June, 2018 in Krakow with the participation of Banská Štiavnica, Budapest, Krakow, Riga and Vienna. Like in the other school program, 4 pupils (up to 18 years old), one teacher and one project coordinator participated from each city. The main goal of the pprogram was to promote awareness among young people of the importance of preservation of architectural and cultural heritage by means of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and the OWHC.