Summary of the 41st WHC Session

Statement from Prof. Jacek Purchla, chair of the 41^st Session of the World Heritage Committee: 
The overall success of the 41^st Session of the World Heritage Committee will undoubtedly be down to the 21 new sites inscribed onto the World Heritage List – a lot more than one might have expected. In addition, these are listings which respond to the actual challenges presented by State Parties of the Convention. We are mostly concerned here with broadening the geographical scope covered by the new listings, as well as the balance between Europe and other continents. It is therefore worth mentioning the inclusion of Asmara in Eritrea, the first modernist city in Africa, as well as the historic city centre of M'banza-Kongo in Angola.

This 41^st Session was not like all the others. As its Polish hosts, it was important for us to introduce something unique into the process of the Convention's evolution since year 1972. And so we can say, with pride, that we have managed to add openness to civil society and non-governmental organisations to the proceedings, as well as to host the first ever Civil Society Forum. This is very important, seeing as we cannot effectively protect world heritage without involving individuals and groups. The second, essential aspect was that Poland showed itself to be a country with substantial tradition and experience in the field of conservation and politics of protecting our heritage. Organising, for the first time, the World Heritage Site Managers Forum, we wanted to stress that the question of conservation standards is one of the biggest problems we are continually faced with. It is relatively easy to add new sites onto the World Heritage List – yet it is much harder to then manage these sites, as a result of so-called “civilisational pressures”.       

Statement from Katarzyna Piotrowska, the head of the delivery team of the 41^st Session of the World Heritage Committee: 
Organising the 41 session of the World Heritage Committee was a very sizeable and complex challenge, one which required the involvement numerous government institutions, many public security and safety agencies, as well as a vast range of subcontractors. All the work was coordinated by the National Heritage Board, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. All the tasks involved in delivering the event were completed successfully. As organisers, we were able to meet both the needs and requirements of UNESCO, as well as those of the 2000 attendees from around the world.

Preparations for delivering the Session programme took around seven months. As well as coordinating all of the organisational duties, the National Heritage Board was responsible for designing the event programme, while also preparing the Polish delegation responsible for the four year Committee mandate. The Board was simultaneously engaged in preparing the proposal for inscribing the Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System onto the World Heritage Site list. The team responsible for this application included 35 individuals, who completed a number of tasks and simultaneously supervised the work of several hundred subcontractors. The additional attractions on offer to the Session attendees proved popular – guests from around the world could visit a selection of Poland's own World Heritage Sites and take part in over 50 side events, including talks, exhibitions and cultural events organised by various State Parties. Thanks to the incredible dedication and hard work from all the individuals and institutions involved in delivering the events, the 41^st Session of the World Heritage Committee, held between 2-12 of July in Krakow, can now be seen as a remarkable success. We have received numerous messages of thanks and congratulations from across the globe.