Chronology of the Drafting, Review, and Revision of the Proposed Icomos Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: The drafting of this proposed Charter has been a long process, extending over more than five years.In order to provide background for consideration of this document and its evolution, the following is a brief description of the stages that resulted in the formulation of the Final Proposed Text: Spring 2002: The Origin of the Idea for an Interpretation Charter.The staff of the Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation, working in collaboration with Jean-Louis-Luxen, then serving as ICOMOS secretary general, initiated the idea of an international doctrinal text on interpretation and presentation.The Ename Center, founded in 1998, is a publicly funded, non-profit organisation, sponsored by the Province of East-Flanders, Belgium in cooperation with the Flemish Heritage Institute.The founding goal of the Center was to develop and disseminate expertise relating to the public interpretation and sustainable development of archaeological sites, museums, historical monuments and landscapes both in Flanders and at partner sites and organizations throughout the world.To that end, the Ename Center organized a series of scholarly seminars and meetings and Center staff members participated in conferences and workshops on the theme of Interpretation in Europe and the US.A central concern in these discussions of public interpretation and presentation was the matter of standards.Although many scholars and heritage professionals were deeply involved in the subject of interpretation, there were no agreed-upon standards for scientific and intellectual integrity, no specific interpretation standards for community involvement and no guidelines or criteria for appropriate mechanisms of funding and management of interpretation and presentation programs.Because of this situation-and because of the importance of the doctrinal texts of ICOMOS-it became apparent that some form of international consensus would be helpful in the continuing development of this field.Jean-Louis Luxen, who had participated in several Ename seminars, was a valuable advisor and suggested that ICOMOS might be the most appropriate institutional framework for the drafting of a potential international charter dealing with interpretation and presentation.March 2002: Draft 1.During the spring of 2002, the first draft of such a charter (dated March 25, 2002) was formulated by the staff of the Ename Center, based on close consultation with M. Luxen and other colleagues, following the model of earlier charters.(For text of Draft 1 and all subsequent drafts, see: http://www.enamecharter.org/downloads/archives).
Author: Neil Asher Silberman
Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W113191834