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"World Heritage Mediation" training

"World Heritage Mediation" training

Published on 09 October 2014 - Updated 20 October 2014
Cet article date d'il y a plus de 10 ans

Culture, Mission Val de Loire

The Association for World Heritage Properties in France organised the first "World Heritage Mediation" national training session at the Abbey of Saint Michael’s Mount from 29 September to 1st October 2014, upon invitation from the Centre for National Monuments and in collaboration with Mission Val de Loire.

This intensive and operational training session for staff in charge of public reception in management structures of world heritage properties in France or property mediation bodies (towns and regions of art and history services, heritage and tourism services, park houses, tourist information offices, CEN, etc.) was intended to:

rediscover the basics of world heritage,
understand the challenges of integrating the values of a UNESCO listing in mediation activities.
and compare everyone's professional practices, particularly by means of discovering mediation tools used by participants and which can potentially be reused by others in their respective domains.

This first event brought together some fifteen professionals from the Way of St James, the royal saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the Citadel of Besançon (network of Vauban's major sites), the ville d'Orange, the ville de Strasbourg, the jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion, the ville d'Amiens, the Abbey of Saint Michael’s Mount and the Loire Valley, who thus launched the creation of a national network of world heritage mediators. Other sessions of this kind should be organised from 2015 onwards.

Online:

www.assofrance-patrimoinemondial.org

Reactions of the 3 participants from the Loire Valley

"The wealth of these days is the meeting of all these different stakeholders who - at the end of the day - all share, by means of their projects within their listed property, the same goal of sharing the UNESCO values.”

Laurianne KEIL, Architecture and heritage organiser, Head of Regions of Art and History Department of Pays Loire Touraine

"Saint Michael’s Mount is an emblematic site which receives a great many visitors and which poses an issue as to the monument's place in the context of the Mount and the bay. This meant that we were able to work both on a mediation project for the public, and also on how this mediation project may be an opportunity to have the place's main players work together."

Christèle BULOT, Cultural development officer at the Loire Anjou-Touraine Regional Natural Park

"These days of exchange have been very interesting. It has been an opportunity to meet stakeholders from all over France, to discuss projects, the problems posed by each site and most importantly to place the UNESCO listing back at the centre of our mediation initiatives, all within an exceptional place.”

Clémentine SAINT BERTIN, Tourism and events officer, the Maison de Loire in Anjou