The Loire Valley World Heritage Area: let’s talk about it! #2

The World Heritage Lab – 15 and 16 April 2019, Milan

The World Heritage Lab is an initiative launched by the Association of Italian World Heritage Properties. In April 2019 it brought World Heritage stakeholders to Milan to discuss the latest approaches to the management of World Heritage properties. The theme chosen for this meeting concerned the promotion of regions. Mission Val-de-Loire spoke on the following subject:  Du patrimoine mondial aux communautés locales, des pistes pour accompagner et partager des projets dans le Val de Loire (From World Heritage to local communities: ways to support and share projects in the Loire Valley).   

The Mission’s activitiesfocused on the collective aspect of heritage appropriation via various projects: a participatory photographic observatory of the landscape; regional meetings; themes developed to mark the 20th anniversary of the Val-de-Loire’s World Heritage listing, etc. 

The World Heritage Lab constitutes a unique opportunity for discussion and debate regarding these properties. The commitment from the local community in the Dolomites; a laboratory for the study of regional heritage management and promotion practices; promotion of site restoration; good management of tourist flows, etc.: these were some of the themes presented at the WHL, which called for an exchange of experiences and allowed for the comparison of methods and expectations at the level of the World Heritage Properties Network.   

“Les citadelles du vertige” (“The vertiginous citadels”) study tour - 11, 12 and 13 June 2019, Carcassonne

The City of Carcassonne and the mountain sentinel castles of Aguilar, Lastours, Montségur, Peyrepertuse, Puilaurens, Quéribus and Termes are currently seeking to be awarded “serial property” status in the UNESCO World Heritage List. From 11 — 13 June, the Aude Département hosted members of the French World Heritage Property Association, with a view to benefiting from their expertise on the subject of "buffer zones" which provide additional layers of protection around World Heritage properties. The purpose of these two days of fieldwork consisted of comparing methods for the diagnostic analysis of the landscape around the 7 different Cathar citadels. Three levels of concern were established by a multidisciplinary team representing a number of French properties (the Mining Basin, Burgundy, the Loire Valley, etc.):  

• The monuments’ archaeological and architectural aspects (status report, typologies, methods of construction, mediation, etc.), 
• An analysis of the local landscape (topography, roads and the network of buildings and artefacts associated with the citadels, etc.
• An analysis of the "wider landscape" and co-visibility: defensive, strategic and trade functions, etc.

The team submitted its report at the end of the trip and intends to monitor proceedings. 

The International Chenin Blanc Symposium – 1 and 2 July 2019, Angers and Savennières

During the 1st International Chenin Blanc Symposium, organised by the Le Chenin Academy and Destination Angers on 1 and 2 July 2019, Mission Val-de-Loire took part in a workshop entitled "Patrimoines et paysages du chenin blanc, regards croisés entre le Val de Loire et l’Afrique du Sud" (“The heritage and landscapes of Le Chenin Blanc: shared perspectives on the Loire Valley and South Africa”. The purpose of the workshop was to define this heritage, explore the concepts of “garden vineyards” and “landscaped farm parks”, identify the role history has played in the creation of these iconic Loire Valley landscapes and discuss a system for certifying the oldest vines in South Africa, which are also amongst the most resilient to current climate change. This workshop was followed by a heritage and landscape interpretation of the Coulée de Serrant vineyard in Savennières.  

The symposium’s scientific contributions will shortly be posted online: https://www.cbic2019.com/  

Regional conference on extending the property of the “Palace and park of Fontainebleau” – 5 July 2019, Fontainebleau

At the request of the mayor of Fontainebleau, a contribution from Mission Val-de-Loire was included in the programme of a regional conference held on 5 July. In effect, the town of Fontainebleau and the municipalities and local communities located within the surrounding forest are engaged in building a case for extending the property’s UNESCO-listed status, which is currently restricted to the castle itself , to cover a much larger area, referred to as the “Estate of Fontainebleau: castle, gardens, park and forest”. Building and implementing cases such as these frequently involves the use of comparative approaches. This was the reason for the speech given by Rémi Deleplancque, project manager at Mission Val-de-Loire, on the subject of “Pilotage du plan de gestion et gouvernance d’un bien UNESCO, concilier protection patrimoniale et attractivité territorial” (“Implementing the management plan and governance of a UNESCO-listed property: reconciling heritage protection with regional attractiveness”), thus adding his testimony to the reflections in progress.