NSK 2021 international conference: “Solidarity in culture: Heritage protection under conditions of crisis”
Taking into consideration the current global threats to world heritage and the urgent need for developing a comprehensive heritage protection strategy, as well as for establishing a solidarity network of cultural institutions, the National and University Library in Zagreb is organising Solidarity in culture: Heritage protection under conditions of crisis, an international conference that it will host from 18 to 20 March 2021. The aim of the conference is to highlight the significance of a carefully thought out, integrated and inclusive approach to the protection of cultural heritage, provide a platform for wider professional debate on various aspects of intra- and inter-sector cooperation and promote the spirit of cooperation and solidarity between cultural institutions in this context.
The conference programme is expected to bring together Croatian and foreign professionals in the field of preventive and curative conservation of material cultural heritage, as well as those specialising in safety policies and civil protection management. The conference participants will have the opportunity to present research results and their specific insights and experiences in the context of heritage management during crisis.
In the context of its work on the preparation of a special charter for managing cultural heritage during crisis and the development of specific protection guidelines in this context, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently been emphasising the importance of including heritage protection in disaster risk management plans as a way of preventing irreversible losses of the world’s material cultural heritage. Pursuant to this, the conference programme will present the concepts of heritage protection from the perspective of safety policies and highlight the need for interoperability between the cultural and civil protection sectors. Managing cultural heritage, considered as an invaluable collection of diverse and unique national resources, necessarily implies an all-embracing protection strategy whose implementation includes the wider cultural and academic community, as well as institutional cooperation based on networking and the spirit of solidarity. Finally, including the wider public and developing a well-established network of volunteers also represents a very significant element in any efficient heritage protection strategy.
The conference programme will also focus on the role of cultural institutions in the development of the system for the management of material cultural heritage during crisis. Other themes will specifically focus on systems and methods for the protection of library, museum and archival resources under the conditions of crisis, interoperability between the cultural and civil protection sectors, contribution that cultural institutions may make to the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDGs), the integration of cultural heritage into national disaster risk reduction strategies, inclusion of citizens into educational programmes focusing on heritage protection, institutional solidarity in the cultural sector, fostering the culture of solidarity specifically in the context of the protection of heritage under the conditions of crisis, bringing together European and global cultural and safety policies in the context of heritage protection, and other relevant issues.
