Europa Nostra, the Pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, is an umbrella network of heritage organisationsand is considered today the voice of Europe ’s organised civil society committed to cultural heritage. The network is composed of 250 member organisations, 210 associate members and 1500 individual members from 53 countries, of which 45 in Europe. The power of the network comes from a shared passion for cultural heritage, and the readiness of our members to invest their time, expertise, connections and often money for the pursuit of our goals ... www.europanostra.org
Greek and Turkish Cypriots of Famagusta join forces to save their Historic Town of Famagusta
For the first time Turkish and Greek Cypriots come together in a unique effort to save the fabled town of Famagusta , once known as the richest city in the world. Under the aegis of Europa Nostra, the highest representatives of the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities of the city of Famagusta , Alexis Galanos and Oktay Kayalp made a unique joint public statement at the Representation of the European Commission in France on Friday 4 April with the aim of saving their historic city from further decay. This important bi-communal initiative of cooperation in the field of cultural heritage follows on from the public meeting which took place in December 2007 at the Ledra Palace Hotel, in the UN Buffer Zone in Nicosia under the auspices of the United Nations.
The meeting aimed to raise the awareness of the international community on the urgent need for launching a major cooperation programme to safeguard Famagusta ’s remaining cultural heritage; and to facilitate the desire of both communities in Famagusta to establish the most suitable coordinating structure through which funds may be made available for such a conservation programme. Participants concluded the need for all to take up responsibility for the shared European history and for the European spirit to prevail in a future common project to safeguard and restore Famagusta ’s cultural heritage. Hope was also expressed that working together in restoring common cultural heritage in Famagusta and elsewhere in Cyprus could contribute to solving other problems that are faced, conjointly and separately, by the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus.
During the meeting, the historic importance of the city was illustrated with the screening of 'The Stones of Famagusta - The Story of a forgotten City'.
more information
Europa Nostra Press Release
Stones of Famagusta website
Europa Nostra 2008 Annual Congress
EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards
Europa Nostra 2008 Annual Congress
REGISTER NOW Europa Nostra 2008 Annual Congress
Registration for Europa Nostra's 2008 Annual Congress that will take place in Newcastle and Gateshead, United Kingdom, from Wednesday 11 to Sunday 15 June 2008 is still possible. Apart from the meetings of the Management Committee, the Council and the General Assembly, the Congress will explore Europa's fascinating engineering heritage and will celebrate the laureates of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2008 in the European Heritage Awards Ceremony which will take place in Durham Cathedral on 12 June 2008. The congress will be followed by a Post Congress Tour, Sunday 15 to Wednesday 18 June 2008 will show its participants the beauty of the castle, country houses and gardens of Northumberland. All information on the 2008 Annual Congress is available on the special Europa Nostra NewcastleGateshead Congress website.
more information
Europa Nostra NewcastleGateshead Congress website
PLACES STILL AVAILABLE Heritage Tours 2008
The tour to Lisbon (September) is nearly fully booked. For the tours to Prague/Brno (19 - 26 May) and to Cyprus (16 - 23 October), and for our French speaking tour to South Africa (14 - 24 November), there is still a number of places available. Among the wide range of magnificent private and public places to be visited at Prague and Brno , this tour has also been enhanced by an exclusive visit - with dinner and concert - to the privately owned Namest castle. The tour to Cyprus is particularly standing out thanks to the support of one of our Members, enabling us to organise private visits to a variety of important historic places and to include in the itinerary a number of European Union/Europa Nostra Awards-winning locations.
more information
Europa Nostra Heritage Tours website
REMINDER EC Consultation on Reduced Rates of VAT: Deadline for Responding 12 May
The European Commission has launched an online consultation to ascertain the views of the public and businesses on the review of the existing legislation on VAT reduced rates.
Europa Nostra and the heritage movement have been advocating for years that the renovation and repair of historic buildings be permanently subjected to a reduced rate of VAT, constantly highlighting that such a provision would serve to stimulate private investment in the conservation of heritage.
Europa Nostra therefore now calls on its member and partner organisations to contribute to the public consultation to by requesting that a permanent provision be made for a reduced rate of VAT for the repair, restoration and maintenance of cultural heritage and historical monuments beyond 2010 .
In 1999 the European Council adopted Directive 1999/85/EC concerning VAT on labour-intensive services, which allowed the application of a reduced VAT rate to certain specified labour-intensive services (such as the renovation and repair of private dwellings), but only for an experimental period of three years so as to test its impact in terms of job creation and in combating the 'black' economy. This temporary provision was prolonged several times and is now valid until the end of 2010. Only fourteen EU Member States have opted to apply a reduced rate of VAT to the repair and renovation of private dwellings (Council Decision 2006/774/EC of 7 November 2006), namely Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom (Isle of Man only). Most of these Member States made the reduction conditional upon the age of the dwellings or restricted the types of works eligible.
he main question now is whether this temporary provision should be made wholly or partially permanent or should be abolished after a long period of continuous extension. Another important question that arises is whether the possibility for Member States to apply reduced rates should be extended to similar services not included in the present provision. The consultation document specifically suggests that new sectors to be added to the future ANNEX III of the VAT Directive could include the repair, restoration and maintenance of cultural heritage and historical monuments.
further information and to contribute to the consultation
European Commission website
more information
Eléonore de Merode, European Policy, policy [a] europanostra.org
Europa Nostra discusses future forms of dialogue and cooperation with the Director-General for Education and Culture at the European Commission
On 7 April a delegation of Europa Nostra (Vice-President Denis de Kergorlay, Secretary General Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović and European Policy Officer Eléonore de Merode) met with Mrs Odile Quintin, Director-General of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture at the European Commission. The principal issues discussed were the recently adopted European Agenda for Culture and its relevance for cultural heritage, as well as the imminent launching of two new Civil Society Culture Platforms on “Acces to culture” and “The potential of cultural and creative industries” to which Europa Nostra intends to participate. On this occasion, Europa Nostra highlighted the specificity of cultural heritage in relation to other cultural fields, as well as the contribution of cultural heritage for achieving the objectives also of other policy- and action areas. Europa Nostra therefore pleaded for the development of a European Agenda for Cultural Heritage within the broader cultural agenda. Europa Nostra and the European Commission fully agreed on the need to broaden the support base for heritage beyond the usual stakeholders (to include the architects and urban planners, the environmental movement and also the private sectors). There was also full agreement to make better use of existing tools such as the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, the European Heritage Days and the recently launched European Heritage Label, for spreading important policy messages in the wider context of the European agenda for culture. Last but not least, the cooperation with the European Commission and other EU Institutions in the organisation of Europa Nostra’s next European Heritage Policy Forum in the first semester of 2009 was discussed.
Europa Nostra invited to present its work to the EDUC Commission of the Committee of the Regions
On 8 April Europa Nostra’s Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, and European Policy Officer Eléonore de Merode, met with Dr Gerd Harms, State Secretary of the Land Brandenburg (Germany), the new Chairman of the Commission for Education, Culture and Research of the Committee of the Regions. Amongst the issues discussed were the challenge of capacity-building for heritage NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe, the contribution of heritage for building a sense of European citizenship and also the need to strike the right balance between further developing cultural tourism and ensuring the adequate level of conservation of cultural heritage assets. Dr Harms invited Europa Nostra to present its work to the EDUC Committee at one of its meetings in the second semester of 2008 and thereby raise awareness on the multiple values of heritage and its relevance for sustainable development in Europe’s regions Dr Harms also expressed keen interest in Europa Nostra’s next European Cultural Heritage Policy Forum and confirmed the readiness of the Committee of the Regions to cooperate with Europa Nostra to ensure the full success of this important event.
MEP Katerina Batzeli, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education expresses keen interest in Europe ’s cultural heritage issues
n 8 April Europa Nostra’s Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, and European Policy Officer Eléonore de Merode, also met with MEP Katerina Batzeli, who was appointed Chair of the EP’s Committee on Culture and Education in November 2007. In addition to presenting the various pillars of its work, Europa Nostra took this opportunity to underline the need to mainstream cultural heritage into various EU policy- and action-areas (including environment, energy, climate change, taxation, external relations). To this end it requested the support of the European Parliament for its next European Cultural Heritage Policy Forum, planned for the first semester of 2009. Europa Nostra delegation also informed Mrs Batzeli of the results of the public event organized on 4 April 2008 in Paris (see above or below?) on the safeguard of Famagusta and presented her with a copy of the film “The Stones of Famagusta”. The need for safeguarding cultural diversity and cultural heritage in the Western Balkans, in the context of the context of the EU enlargement strategy was thoroughly discussed, and MEP Batzeli invited Europa Nostra to come forward with related policy and/or action recommendations.
Conference of the Architects' Council of Europe "Designing fr the Future: Architecture and Quality of Life" Brussels , Flagey Building , 10 April 2008
Europa Nostra was represented by Communications Officer Laurie Neale at this high level and important conference, whose aim was to promote the future development of the built environment - based on the highest quality criteria rather than the lowest cost - from conception to maintenance, and placing the citizen at the heart of all policies, fully and holistically taking into account all aspects of sustainability - economic, social, environmental and cultural.
uropa Nostra underlined the importance of including cultural heritage issues and architectural and urban planning projects which incorporate the existing with the new, in discussions and decisions regarding EU architecture policy and practice. By working together, the architectural and the cultural heritage communities will create the most attractive and sustainable living environments, to the benefit of all European citizens.
Congress of Europe, The Hague (Netherlands), 23-24 May 2008:
Express your ideas for Culture and Cultural Heritage in Europe!
60 years ago, the model for the European Union as we know it today was conceived at the Congress of Europe held in The Hague with 750 delegates from 26 European countries, organised by the Joint International Committee for European Unity and presided by Winston Churchill.
Since 1948, the European Movement, the Committee's new name as of the Congress, has played an essential role in the process of European integration and 60 years later, it takes up the challenge to organise a second Congress for Europe in The Hague to propose ideas suited to a 21st century Europe.
The Congress of Europe 2008 will bring together the heads of the EU Institutions and European Political Parties, as well as the representatives of European Civil Society, allowing them to directly address these key EU politicians with their concerns and recommendations about Europe’s future.
Europa Nostra is partner of this Congress and will be represented in the workshop “Education and Cultural Europe”. We strongly encourage you to join the event or to post your ideas about the future of the Culture in Europe on the blog set up for the occasion before 15 April via http://speakup-europe.blogactiv.eu/submit-a-post/.
Via this discussion platform, the European Movement hopes to summon up the roots of the European integration process and encourage European Civil Society (citizens and organisations) to debate the future of the EU, thus contributing to the setting up of its agenda 2009-2013 and beyond. This blog provides the opportunity to present your ideas to European decision makers and political parties allowing them to respond directly to your main concerns.
The most popular 60 ideas will be discussed through 3 themes: Political, Economic & Social, Education & Culture and debated with Europe ’s political leaders in two TV debates on 24 May. These debates will be broadcasted live via Europe by Satellite.
further information
Congress of Europe 2008 website
Congress of Europe 2008 blog
EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards
EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards
- The Press Release announcing the winners of the 2008 EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards will be dispatched at the end of April.
- The awarded achievements will be celebrated at the European Heritage Awards Ceremony, which will take place on 12 June 2008 in Durham Cathedral in the United Kingdom, in the presence of HRH The Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón, President of Europa Nostra, Ms Odile Quintin, Director General of the Director General DG EAC of the European Commission, and Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the United Kingdom.
- The Call for Entries for the 2009 edition of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards will be published mid May.
See Latest News
GERMANY UNESCO recommends the construction of a tunnel instead of a bridge in the World Heritage Site of the Dresden Elbe Valley
An international mission of experts sent to review plans to build a bridge in the cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley in early February recommended that the plan be abandoned in the interest of preserving the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site. The experts concluded that digging a tunnel would have a lesser impact on the landscape. Should the German authorities decide to go ahead and build the proposed bridge, the World Heritage Committee has threatened to delete the property from the World Heritage List at its next meeting in Quebec (Canada) in July 2008.
egular demonstrations have taken place every Monday on the site of the bridge – often attracting well over 4000 people. Despite these protests and despite letters of concern from Europa Nostra to the Mayor of Dresden and the President of Saxony, the Administrative High Court of Saxony had decided on 14 November to authorise the construction of the Waldschlösschen Bridge over the river Elbe. On 19 November 2007, the German National Committee for the Protection of Monuments had issued a statement (The Würzburg Appeal) criticising the treatment of the Dresden Elbe Valley and other World Heritage Sites in Germany and appealing to the Federal Government and the German federal states to establish conditions of legal security.
NETHERLANDS Panorama Mesdag at Risk from construction works in its immediate vicinity
On 19 March, backed by its Dutch Member Organisations (Bond Heemschut, Erfgoed Nederland and Monumentenwacht) as well as by the International Panorama Council (IPC), Europa Nostra wrote to the Mayor of the City of The Hague, to the Dutch Minister of Culture and to the Director of the Rijksdienst voor Archeologie, Cultuurlandschap en Monumenten to request their intervention to ensure that adequate measures be taken to fully protect the Panaroma Mesdag during the construction activities carried on in its immediate vicinity.
Europa Nostra expressed its concerns that no proper impact assessment study was carried out prior to the beginning of the construction activities. Construction works for an underground parking garage, only a few metres away from the Panorama rotunda, have caused a dangerous shift of the columns of the panorama’s supporting steel structure. A number of columns have already sagged to an extent that experts consider alarming.
Panorama Mesdag is one of the world’s most remarkable and best preserved specimens of the panorama era between 1870 and World War I, and the oldest remaining panorama still preserved in its original rotunda and at its original location. An important art phenomenon of three-dimensional spatial illusion, hundreds of millions of visitors viewed panoramas at the time. Today, well over 140.000 visitors annually still come to enjoy the Panorama which has become one of The Hague ’s principal cultural and tourist attractions.
more information on Heritage at Risk issues
Eléonore de Merode, Heritage at Risk, policy [a] europanostra.org
© Europa Nostra 2008
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