September 25, 2019 - Kotor is hosting a two-day Regional Meeting of the ICOMOS Network of Southeastern Europe from 26-27 September. With the support of the municipalities of Bar, Kotor, and Tivat, and the Maritime Museum, the Montenegrin National Commission for Cooperation with the UNESCO Committee is organizing the meeting to mark the 40th anniversary of the entry of the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor on the UNESCO World Heritage List. One of the main goals is also to support the formation process of the Montenegrin ICOMOS Association.
ICOMOS Regional Network Meeting in Southeast Europe in Montenegro will be attended by ICOMOS International Association President Toshiyuki Kono, Vice President Grellan Rourke, and long-time Vice President Benjamin Mutton, well aware of the situation and conditions of the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor. Representatives of national associations are coming to Kotor from Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Croatia, Kosovo, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Northern Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia. The meeting will also be attended by representatives of the future ICOMOS Association of Montenegro and respectable national institutions dealing with heritage protection.
ICOMOS is the expert body of UNESCO, made up of respectable experts in the protection of cultural heritage. The headquarters of the International ICOMOS Network is in Paris. Particular states have their ICOMOS Associations, which act as expert bodies providing recommendations, guidelines, and suggestions for plans, programs, and projects whose implementation is correlated with the preservation of cultural heritage.
"Internationally, ICOMOS provides assessments of the state of cultural property in UNESCO-listed areas. In addition to providing guidance and assessing the situation, ICOMOS is also considering new nominations for entry into the UNESCO List of Cultural Heritage. We are talking about a worldwide association of experts, which has its branches in individual countries," explains Secretary-General of the National Commission for Cooperation with the UNESCO Committee, Milica Nikolic.
Nikolic points out that organizing this meeting in Montenegro is of particular importance in the context of the fact that our country is in the process of establishing an ICOMOS association, which will have the status of a non-governmental organization.
"With this meeting, we want to support and accelerate the establishment of Montenegro's ICOMOS network. It is currently in the process of being established; some steps have already been completed. After some more formalities, the association will enter the membership recruitment phase. With the status of an NGO, this association will act as an independent body with the task of providing guidance and suggestions. We, as the National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, look forward to working closely with them. They should be a kind of support for us in all strategies for implementing the Convention on the Protection of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage, but also for other topics of importance for the heritage, "emphasizes Nikolic.
The Minister of Culture of the Government of Montenegro, Aleksandar Bogdanovic, the President of the Kotor Municipality, Zeljko Aprcovic, Prince Nikola Petrovic Njegos and the President of the ICOMOS International Association Toshiyuki Kono will speak at the opening of the Regional Meeting of the ICOMOS Network of Southeast Europe.
The topics of the meeting will include issues of regional conservation and restoration practices, issues of local specificity, challenges and opportunities for cooperation, issues of documentation and registers pertaining to national cultural assets, as well as cooperation with regional non-governmental organizations and universities.
