European Conference of Ministers responsible for the preservation and rehabilitation of the cultural heritage of monuments and sites

Recommendation 589 (1970)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 26 January 1970 (21st Sitting) (see Doc. 2714, report of the Committee on Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 January 1970 (21st Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Having heard the address by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Liège, President of the European Conference of Ministers responsible for the preservation and rehabilitation of the cultural heritage of monuments and sites, which was held in Brussels from 25 - 27 November 1969, at the invitation of the Belgian Government, under the auspices of the Council of Europe;

2. Recalling that already in 1963 it initiated European co-operation at intergovernmental, non-governmental and local authority level by its Recommendation 365 (1963), Resolution 249 (1963) and Order No. 216 (1963), adopted on the proposal of the Committee on Culture and Education ;

3. Recalling, moreover, that, having approved the main conclusions of Recommendation 365 (1963), the Committee of Ministers instructed the Council for Cultural Co-operation (CCC) to include in its programme of work five "Symposia" designed to facilitate the definition of a European policy for the preservation and rehabilitation of the cultural, historical, artistic and natural heritage as an essential condition before a Conference of Ministers could be convened;

4. Stressing that the recent Conference of Ministers marks a new stage in the definition of such a policy, and welcoming the similarity of the views held by the organs of the Council of Europe on the necessity and urgency of taking European action to preserve and rehabilitate the European cultural heritage of monuments and sites ;

5. Noting with satisfaction the resolutions adopted by the Conference of Ministers in Brussels, and desirous of seeing the Council of Europe pursue and intensify its action in this field, inter alia, by creating machinery to promote the elaboration and implementation of a European policy ;

6. Considering that the cultural, economic, social and human value of this heritage, which is the expression of man's genius, governs its active integration into the setting of contemporary society, and that any efforts to preserve and rehabilitate this heritage must necessarily form a basic factor of an overall regional planning policy;

7. Considering, moreover, that such integration can be achieved only through close co-operation between the bodies responsible, at all levels, for the heritage of monuments and sites and for regional planning, and that the requisite action must be decentralised to a large extent to allow local authorities to accept special responsibility,

8. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers take concrete action as quickly as possible on Resolutions Nos. 1 and 2 of the Conference, in particular by :

a setting up a committee on cooperation for the preservation and rehabilitation of the cultural heritage of monuments and sites which would comprise, in addition to government experts from the states parties to the European Cultural Convention, representatives of the Consultative Assembly and the European Conference of Local Authorities. Europa Nostra, as an expression of European public opinion, together with the other competent international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, might also be associated in promoting the committee's activities ;

b designating as the committee's first task the immediate preparation of a European Charter setting forth the general principles of the preservation and rehabilitation of the cultural heritage of monuments and sites, to be followed by the preparation of a European Convention drawn up in the light of the Charter ;

c taking the action necessary to organise a European Year exhorting all Europeans to greater awareness of the dangers threatening their common cultural heritage and of the need to make this heritage an integral part of everday life.