Interview
Zsolt Visy
World Heritage Convention
Zsolt Visy is a Hungarian archaeologist who specializes in the military history of the Roman Empire and early Christian archaeology.
He obtained his doctoral degree in 1977 at Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest. In addition to conducting numerous excavations in Hungary and Germany, he has been a professor at the University of Pécs since 1984, where he headed the Department of Archeology until 2011. Between 1998 and 2000, he was Secretary of State at the Ministry of National Heritage in Budapest. Since 2002 he is also a professor at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Mr. Visy has been involved in several international organizations: between 2009 and 2016, he was vice-president of the International Scientific Committee for the Management of Archaeological Heritage (ICAHM), vice-president of the Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS and Chair of the Cultural Committee of the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO. He has published numerous articles and six books, including The Ripa Pannonica in Hungary (Akademiai Kiado, 2003). In 2011, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.
Mr Visy was part of the Hungarian delegation to the World Heritage Committee between 1997 and 2003, and again since the re-election of Hungary for the period 2017-2021. World expert of limes (Roman fortifications), he worked on several World Heritage nominations He is one of the founding members of the Bratislava Group, which works on the extension of the World Heritage site of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, and also chairs the Hungarian Limes Association, which is preparing the Hungarian segment for the candidacy of the Limes of the Danube.
Interview with
Zsolt Visy
12 May 2018, Budapest, Hungary
The following audio excerpts are from an interview with Zsolt Visy by Christina Cameron the 12 May 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. We learn about Mr. Visy's experience in the preparation of several nominations to the World Heritage List. He also questions the consequences of the growth of the World Heritage List, and calls for a better understanding of the implications and responsibilities of the World Heritage status.
- 1. The World Heritage Convention
- 1a. Involvement of Zsolt Visy in World Heritage
- 1b. Key objectives of the World Heritage Convention
- 1c. Synergies among the cultural conventions of UNESCO
- 1d. Successes and failures of the Convention
- 2. World Heritage Committee
- 3. Advisory Bodies
- 4. Involvement of States Parties
- 5. The role of civil society
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).
