Home News Europa Nostra 60th Anniversary General Assembly held in Venice in the presence of President Cecilia Bartoli

Europa Nostra 60th Anniversary General Assembly held in Venice in the presence of President Cecilia Bartoli

October 08, 2023 | Posted in Members

The 60th Anniversary General Assembly of Europa Nostra was held on the afternoon of 29 September at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice in the frame of the European Cultural Heritage Summit 2023. Some 230 members from across Europe took part in this landmark meeting, which had the participation, for the first time, of Cecilia Bartoli, who was appointed as President of Europa Nostra in May 2023. This landmark General Assembly was chaired by the Executive President, Hermann Parzinger, with the assistance of the Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović.

In her address, the President of Europa Nostra, Cecilia Bartoli, praised the organisation’s remarkable achievements and paid tribute to the members of Europa Nostra. “I applaud your immense dedication, as professionals and volunteers, for the preservation of Europe’s cultural and natural heritage. This heritage is so rich, so diverse but also so fragile. We can be extremely proud of what our organisation – Europa Nostra – has achieved during the first 60 years of its life. This was only possible thanks to your generous and competent support to the mission and action of Europa Nostra. Many of you have contributed to this work for decades (like our Federico Guasti to whom we paid special tribute last night). You all are the main asset of our organisation,” stated the President of Europa Nostra.

Cecilia Bartoli thanked the Executive President and Vice-Presidents for their “strong leadership”, the Board and Council for their “precious expertise and commitment”, and the Secretary General and the International Secretariat of Europa Nostra for doing an “amazing job throughout the year” and for managing “to organise a wonderful Summit here in Venice.” She concluded: “I wish you a huge amount of inspiration, energy and rewarding experiences for all our future activities!”

Representatives of the three main European partners of Europa Nostra took the floor for a short Diamond Jubilee testimony: Luisella Pavan-Woolfe on behalf of the Council of Europe, Catherine Magnant on behalf of the European Commission, and Laura Piovesan on behalf of the European Investment Bank. They all paid tribute to the close, strong and historic links between their organisations and Europa Nostra.

On this occasion, the publication ‘Saving the past – Shaping the future’ marking the 10 Anniversary of the 7 Most Endangered programme, was presented for the first time by Laura Piovesan, Deputy Head of the Projects Directorate at the European Investment Bank (EIB). Launched in 2013, the 7 Most Endangered programme has been helping communities save heritage sites across Europe. The programme combines the cultural heritage expertise of Europa Nostra with the technical appraisal and rescue-planning skills of the EIB and its Institute. This brochure, produced by the European Investment Bank, highlights the success stories and the importance of partnerships and community engagement. It can be read and downloaded on the EIB website in six languages (English, French, German, Italian, German and Polish).

The Vice-Presidents of Europa Nostra, opening with Guy Clausse, Executive Vice-President, shared a short personal testimony on the occasion of Europa Nostra’s anniversary: Bertrand de Feydeau (France), Piet Jaspaert (Belgium), Cristina Loglio (Italy), Natalia Moussienko (Ukraine), Jacek Purchla (Poland), Alexander Fürst zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (Germany) and Androulla Vassiliou (Cyprus).

The Secretary General of Europa Nostra, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, made a warm and personal tribute to the organisation stressing that “our goal is so much more than a cultural one. It’s an antidote to nationalism, extremism, forms of division. For 32 years it has been the mission of my life, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we have achieved together“.

During the first part of the meeting, the members handled relevant statutory matters, among them the approval of the Annual Report 2022, including the Audited Annual Accounts 2022, as well as the approval of the Draft Budget for 2024, both presented by the Treasurer Huub Doek.

The General Assembly also (re-)appointed 12 members of the Council of Europa Nostra, nominated by Member Organisations and Country Representations for a mandate of 3 years (in alphabetical order): Philippe de Cossé Brissac (France), Delphine Dupeux (European organisation based in Belgium), Uwe Koch (Germany), Catherine Leonard (UK), Karel Loeff (the Netherlands), Luisella Pavan-Woolfe (European organisation based in Germany), Stefania Pigantelli-Gladstone (European organisation based in Belgium), Alexandra Prokopiou (Greece), Gabriel Ruiz Cabrero (Spain), Katarina Ruuska-Jauhijärvi (Finland), Jacques de Saussure (Switzerland) and Roxanna Wring (Romania).

Special thanks were given to the six outgoing Council members, namely Justin Albert (UK), Philippe Belaval (France), Sébastien Clerc (France), Felipe Criado-Boado (Spain), Siegwart Graf zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld (Germany) and Philippe Toussaint (France).

Uwe Koch, new Chair of Europa Nostra Deutschland, and Pierre Laconte, Chair of the Industrial and Engineering Heritage Committee, informed the members of the activities of their respective committees.

Sorina Neascu, Vice-President of the European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage (ESACH), and Jasna Popovic, Secretary of ESACH and Coordinator of Youth activities within the European Heritage Hub project, presented Europa Nostra Youth Engagement policy and activities. They introduced the position paper “Youth for the Future of Cultural Heritage in Europe”, which emphasises the importance of youth in preserving and promoting cultural heritage, especially in the face of climate change.