600 People #Unite4Heritage at Oslo City Hall
On 11 June 2015, around 600 people from all over Europe demonstrated their support to UNESCO’s #Unite4Heritage campaign during the live-streamed European Heritage Awards Ceremony at the iconic Oslo City Hall, the home of the annual Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. This initiative which aims to protect heritage threatened by violence and destruction across the world, and particularly in the Arab countries, was launched last March in Baghdad under the leadership of UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova. Europa Nostra figures among the first official partners of this campaign. A high-level delegation of Europa Nostra is expected to meet with Irina Bokova on 29 June 2015, at the opening day of the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, to discuss future ways of joining forces in support of endangered heritage in Europe and the rest of the world.
All the attendees of the Awards Ceremony held at Oslo City Hall on 11 June 2015, showing their support to UNESCO’s campaign #Unite4Heritage. Photo: Felix Quaedvlieg
“Europa Nostra fully endorses UNESCO’s #Unite4Heritage initiative and calls on its members, associates, partners and supporters to take active part in this campaign. We must join together to prevent the destruction of our shared cultural treasures,” appealed Europa Nostra’s President and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Plácido Domingo, in a special message published in the European Heritage Awards Ceremony booklet.
“The European Commission – the European Union as a whole – strongly condemns the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage. Personally, I am shocked and sad at the acts of barbarism against cultural heritage we have been witnessing. Our heritage is such a crucial part of who we are as human beings. That is why these acts of destruction are not only directed against the past – they also deprive people of their future. The EU is determined to keep supporting actions tackling this challenge, for instance through fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural goods. Cultural heritage deserves our special protection,” stated Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, in his message published in the same publication.
In an exclusive interview given to Europa Nostra’s Heritage in Motion magazine: Norway Special, Irina Bokova talks about the #Unite4Heritage campaign launched in the year when UNESCO celebrates its 70th anniversary.
#Unite4Heritage sequence (01:23:15-01:24:45)
