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'Management and Preservation of Historic Cities on World Heritage List' Conference Held in St Petersburg

Thursday, 1 February 2007
access_time 2 min read
The conference on "Management and Preservation of Historic Cities inscribed on the World Heritage List" is taking place in St Petersburg from 29 January to 3 February 2007. It is a follow-up to the February 2006 international UNESCO/ICOMOS mission to St Petersburg reviewing a number of conservation and planning issues in this city, including the extension to the Marinsky Theatre. Information was subsequently received on the design competition of the new headquarters for Gazprom.

During the conference, information and views were exchanged on issues of the protection of the historic urban landscape, particularly those in Eastern Europe facing rapid economic and social change. Presentations were made by representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and specific cases from the Russian Federation (Moscow, Yaroslavl) were reviewed.

In addition to representatives from Eastern Europe, international experts from other parts of the world were invited by UNESCO (Australia, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA) as well as ICCROM, ICOMOS, UIA, IFLA, IFHP, Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC).

On 29 and 30 January 2007 they participated in a broad debate taking into account the Vienna Memorandum (2005) on World Heritage and contemporary architecture - managing the historic urban landscape. Discussions focused on new urban management tools that would enable the historic urban landscape to be integrated into planning and conservation mechanisms. A visit to St Petersburg and related sites took place on 31st January, followed by two days of in-depth discussion focused on conservation issues of this World Heritage city. The World Heritage Committee will review the state of conservation of St Petersburg at its 31st session in June 2007 (New Zealand).

The conference was organized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in conjunction with UNESCO Moscow Office, the National Commission for UNESCO and its Russian World Heritage Committee, and the government of St Petersburg. It was led by the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee Mr Tumu te Heuheu (New Zealand). The meeting was co-financed by the World Heritage Fund, the Netherlands Fund-in-Trust and the Russian authorities.

Thursday, 1 February 2007
access_time 2 min read
States Parties 1
Regions 1
Europe and North America
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