Interview
Jad Tabet
World Heritage Convention
Jad Tabet is a Franco-Lebanese architect and urban planner. A graduate in architecture from the American University of Beirut, he co-founded the Atelier Jad et Sami Tabet, a firm of architecture and urbanism which has offices in Paris and Beirut.
Specialized in rehabilitation projects as well as in the requalification of urban sites and old districts, his professional practice in France and Lebanon has earned him numerous awards and recognitions. Jad Tabet has also taught at the School of Architecture of Paris Belleville as well as at the School of International Affairs of Sciences Po Paris. He contributed to the creation of the association Patrimoine sans Frontières, serving as Vice-president. He was President of the Lebanese Federation of Engineers and Architects, and of the Organisation of Arab Architects from 2017 till 2021.
Jad Tabet has been involved in the World Heritage Convention since 2001. He represented Lebanon as a cultural heritage expert on the World Heritage Committee from 2001 to 2005 and from 2014 to 2017. During these years, he was also involved with several working groups of the convention, in particular on historic urban landscapes and modern architecture in the Arab region. In 2008, he was commissioned by ICOMOS to carry out a review of their working methods and procedures; his report was published in 2010.
Interview with
Jad Tabet
June 2022
The following audio excerpts are from a virtual interview with Jad Tabet conducted by Christina Cameron and Mechtild Rössler in June 2022. Jad Tabet stresses the importance of mobilizing the international community for conservation and considers that the World Heritage List in Danger should be the central focus for the implementation of the Convention. He also reviews the working methods of ICOMOS and the role of UNESCO in the face of the intentional destruction of heritage.
- 1. The World Heritage Convention
- 1a. Involvement of Jad Tabet in World Heritage
- 1b. Key objectives of the Convention
- 1c. The Cairns reform agenda and the 2001-2005 period
- 1d. Decisions and specific case studies that have influenced the implementation of the Convention
- 1e. Successes and failures of the Convention
- 2. The World Heritage Committee
- 3. Advisory bodies : ICOMOS
- 4. The World Heritage Centre and Category II centres
- 5. Conservation efforts of States Parties
- 6. Intentional destruction of World Heritage
- 7. The role of civil society in the Convention
Oral Archives of the
World Heritage Convention
Under the leadership of the Canada Research Chair on Built Heritage at the University of Montreal, an international team of researchers conducts interviews with pioneers of World Heritage to capture memories of important moments in the history of UNESCO Convention.
Launched in 2006, this initiative is part of the UNESCO History project that celebrated the 60th anniversary of the creation of UNESCO. The Oral Archives project records the precious witness of people closely associated with the creation and implementation of the Convention. Their recollections and views have greatly enriched the book by Christina Cameron and Mechtild Rössler, Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention (Ashgate/Routledge, 2013).
