Zadar: international seminar on Underwater Cultural Heritage (1-4 October 2009)

On 1-4 October experts and professionals on underwater cultural heritage from South-Eastern Europe and other European and Mediterranean countries will meet in Zadar, Croatia, hosted by the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology

In the framework of the project "Cultural Heritage - a Bridge towards a Shared Future", the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology (ICUA) will hold an international seminar on the protection and promotion of underwater cultural heritage, to take place in Zadar on October 1-4.

The Seminar is organised by ICUA in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, and with the support of UNESCO (UNESCO Office in Venice).

Main objective of the meeting is presentation and sharing of good practices on the protection, management, and promotion of underwater cultural heritage, with special attention to the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). Furthermore, the seminar will serve to present the activities of ICUA - recently recognised as UNESCO Centre cat. II - in its functions of an independent institution responsible for the protection of underwater heritage with special focus on the Adriatic and Mediterranean basin.

The support offered by UNESCO to the seminar is part of the activities promoted by UNESCO-BRESCE for the enhancement of cultural heritage as a factor of dialogue and sustainable development in South-Eastern Europe. Within this framework, the seminar also aims at promoting ICUA as regional centre of excellence in its specific filed of action, in agreement with the joint Declaration approved by the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe.