IN MEMORIAM: José María Ballester (1940-2025, Spain)

It is with immense sadness that we bid farewell to José María Ballester (1940-2025), a legendary champion of Europe’s cultural and natural heritage, a most dedicated member of Europa Nostra for over 40 years, and a founding member of Hispania Nostra, who passed away on 1 April 2025 in his home country, Spain.

 

José Maria Ballester was a senior international civil servant, art critic, and cultural manager. He took part in the negotiations that led to the creation of Hispania Nostra in 1976. Three years later, in 1979, he joined the Council of Europe, where he continued his career until 2003 as Head of the Cultural Heritage Division, then Head of the Cultural and Natural Heritage Department, and, finally, Director of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage. In this way, he became responsible for the cooperation in heritage matters of the governments of the Member States of the Council of Europe.

During this period at the Council of Europe and under his direction:

• three European treaties were prepared and signed: the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (Granada, 1985), the Convention for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe (Valletta, 1992), and the European Landscape Convention (Florence, 2000);
• the Way of Saint James was launched as the first Cultural Itinerary, to initiate the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe;
• the cooperation and technical assistance programme for cultural heritage was relaunched, particularly active in Central and Eastern European countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall; and
• the European Heritage Days were launched.

All in all, José Maria Ballester’s key role in the above-mentioned major developments and achievements within the framework of the Council of Europe earned him the nickname “Monsieur Patrimoine culturel de l’Europe”.

After his retirement from the Council of Europe, José María Ballester contributed actively to the work of many organisations dealing with cultural and natural heritage in Spain and in Europe, such as the Fundación Botin, where he designed and led the programme dedicated to rural development and safeguard of cultural landscapes.

José María Ballester was a member of the Council of Europa Nostra from 1991 to 2019, and a member of the Jury of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards from 2005 to 2013, having been Chair of the Jury in the category Conservation from 2010 to 2013.

He was actively involved in many initiatives undertaken by Europa Nostra, from the cultural diplomacy efforts in the Balkans to the campaigns to save endangered heritage sites in Europe selected in the framework of the 7 Most Endangered Programme, such as the Monastery of Jesus in Setúbal, Portugal; Rosia Montana in Romania; or Numancia and El Cabanyal in his own country Spain.

In 2017, José María Ballester was appointed as Honorary Life Member of Europa Nostra in recognition of his long and distinguished service to Europa Nostra for four decades.

“We mourn the loss of one of the most valuable members of our European family, José María Ballester. Thanks to his immense competence and erudition, his leadership and tireless commitment, and his deep European conviction, José María became one of the main founders and protagonists of Europe’s policy and action in favour of cultural and natural heritage – first under the auspices of the Council of Europe and then within the framework of the European Union”, stated Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General of Europa Nostra.

“Personally, I am deeply grateful to José María for having been my generous mentor and friend over the last 30 years. We are all his disciples and we thank him for showing us the way. It is not an easy road, but it is a marvellous and fundamental one for the promotion of humanism and other shared values in Our Europe! We shall honour José María’s memory and carry forward his immense legacy,” she concluded.