Brussels, 18/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - The 2nd European Heritage Forum, organised in the context of the European Heritage Days (EHD), a joint action by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Wednesday 23 September under Slovenian presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and will be a contribution to the European Year for Creativity and Innovation 2009. “Heritage, creativity and innovation” will be the theme of the forum to be organised in two plenary sessions, one on “innovation and creativity in heritage interpretation” and the other on “heritage images”. Each theme will be introduced by experts in these fields and accompanied by examples in the form of case studies from different countries. This event, which started up in 1991, has known growing public acclaim. The EHDs' watchword is “Europe, a common heritage”. They are aimed at heightening citizens' awareness of the cultural richness of their countries and of the cultural diversity to be found in Europe. They also provide an opportunity to heighten public awareness of the fragility of cultural heritage and the need to protect it against new threats. The public will have the possibility during September to visit and frequent sites not usually open to the public in the Council of Europe's European cultural convention 49 signatory countries.
Redirected and revitalised in 2008 in order to give a greater European dimension to the initiative, the EHD programme has, since last year, included a European Heritage Forum, the aim of which is to encourage a more systematic international exchange between all stakeholders, professionals, volunteers and other players sharing the task of communicating heritage to the public, presenting heritage and ensuring different forms of use and diffusion. (I.L./transl.jl)