fbpx

Will Krakow host a Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee?

Krakow has made a bid to host the UNESCO World Heritage Committee Session in 2017. Each session is a huge event on an international scale and a marvellous opportunity to promote the host country and host city. On August 18, a letter of intent was signed in the Krakow City Office by Poland’s Minister of Culture and National Heritage Małgorzata Omilanowska, Minister of Foreign Affairs Grzegorz Schetyna, and Mayor of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski.

“The signing of this letter begins the diplomatic procedure for the application for the right of Krakow to organise a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2017. The organisation of such a large project would be an opportunity to propose that certain historical and natural monuments in Poland that we regard as important from the perspective of our cultural and international policy be included on the UNESCO list. Above all, we would welcome very influential people responsible for the protection of monuments in Krakow. Participants in the session would have the possibility to see Krakow in its entire complexity and beauty,” Minister Małgorzata Omilanowska said after the signature of the letter of intent.

As Krakow’s Mayor Jacek Majchrowski has said, Krakow will campaign for the old part of the Nowa Huta steel mill as a unique urban complex to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Hosting the 41st Session of the World Heritage Committee in Krakow would be an honour for our city. As a city included in the World Heritage list in 1978 as one of the first 12 places in the world, and as the first Slavic and the second non-English UNESCO City of Literature, Krakow is the perfect place for such an important project. A UNESCO World Heritage Committee session is a major event on a global scale and, at the same time, a huge organisational challenge. For this reason, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the City of Krakow have declared that they would work together and undertake every effort to ensure that the event promoting Poland and its culture on such a large scale would be organised with the utmost care and on an adequately spectacular scale.

Sessions of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee have been held in various cities around the world every year since 1977. During each session, new additions to the World Heritage List are voted upon and announced in three categories: “natural goods,” “mixed goods” and “cultural goods,” The committee also considers the state of preservation of sites from the list and decides on the extension of criteria of the inscription. In this way, the protected area in the Białowieża Forest was extended by almost 140,000 ha in 2014. In the last few years, sessions of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee were held in Seville (2009), Paris (2011), Petersburg (2012) and Bonn (2015). The host of next year’s session will be Istanbul. This year’s session was attended by 2,200 delegates from 170 countries and attracted 155 media representatives from around the world.

Robert Piaskowski, Deputy Director for Programme Planning of the Krakow Festival Office, joined an illustrious group of guests at a prestigious conference organised by the British Council and Edinburgh International Festivals. Its participants presented models to be emulated and asked the question of how to avoid the artistic overloading that is experienced by many of the world’s biggest cities.

The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) is one of the world’s most prestigious festivals in the fields of theatre, opera, music, audiovisual arts and ballet. The most outstanding artists, directors, conductors and choreographers apply to participate in this event every year, and a number of international festivals held in Edinburgh have promoted and contributed to the renown of the city, generating huge profits for the city almost immediately after the establishment of the event. They include: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, “Imaginate” International Children and Young Audience Festival, International Book Festival and Science Festival.

The EIF is an association of several independent events that make up the biggest cultural festival in the world. Every year, it is accompanied by a prestigious conference of huge international renown, attracting enthusiasts, cultural activists and representatives of local governments from all corners of the world. This year’s event was also attended by a Polish delegate: the Krakow Festival Office’s Robert Piaskowski. He appeared alongside outstanding representatives of culture such as Faith Liddell – Director, Festivals Edinburgh; Marta Almirall – Director, La Merce Festival; Christie Anthoney – Executive Officer, Festivals Adelaide; Daniel Bissonnette – Director of Cinema, Festivals, Events at Ville de Montreal (City of Montreal); and Ben Twist – Director, Creative Carbon Scotland.

Investment in the creation of new international artistic festivals is the goal that Krakow wants to pursue. The most important topics brought up at this year’s festival in Edinburgh included: mutual competition for audiences, resources and media. Also discussed were the challenges faced by Krakow and the Krakow Festival Office in the context of new social challenges: gentrification, deglomeration of the city, the ageing of society, social cohesiveness, social inclusion, the importance of sustainable festivals (including ecological festivals) in the future management of the cultural policy of the city, more extensive connection with the creative and IT sector, the strengthening of ties with universities, an analysis of legal solutions, the impact of festivals on the local economy and the international traffic of artists.

One of the events accompanying the EIF is the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where Poland was represented this year. Mr. Piaskowski took part in the opening ceremony of the festival, which, being organised since 1983, is currently the world’s biggest event of this kind. It is worth remembering that Edinburgh became the first city to join the prestigious UNESCO City of Literature programme in 2004 thanks to this festival.

The EIF emerged as the result of an idea of a huge international project that would build a platform for artistic agreement beyond political borders. Thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts, cultural activists, local governments and the British central government, the first Edinburgh International Festival was held in 1947. Since then, it has been organised every year, enjoying increasing popularity and recognition. It is also profitable, even though donations from the public sector are much smaller than in the case of many other similar festivals around the world.

Enter the search phrase: