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50
UNESCO today
The stand set up by the museum
education officers at the Abbey of
Lorsch enchanted young visitors
with hand-painted world maps
and globes.
Photo: German Commission for
UNESCO/Claudia Brincks
2|2005
First “World Heritage
Day” in Germany
On the initiative of the German
Commission for UNESCO, the
first World Heritage Day in Germany
took place on the 5th June
2005. The aim of this event is not
only to raise public awareness of
the German World Heritage sites
as places of especially careful
preservation work, but also to
strengthen their role in transmitting
the ideas of UNESCO.
Around half of the 31 World Heritage
sites in Germany took part
in this first World Heritage Day.
The Abbey of Lorsch played host
to the national opening ceremony.
“Each World Heritage site is a link in
a cultural network covering the
whole world”, stated Dr. Roland
Bernecker, Secretary-General of the
German Commission for UNESCO.
Contact and cultural dialogue are
therefore the themes for World Heritage
Day, called for the first time
this year by the German Commission
for UNESCO and the Association of
German World Heritage Sites.
World Heritage Day should above all
be a forum for communication with
local people, for whom “their”
World Heritage site is an important
cultural and historical reference
point. The aim is to “make World
Heritage an experience” and to
understand our own culture as part
of the diverse heritage of humankind.
Each site is a point on a fascinating
roadmap of cultural difference,
and a place of learning for
intercultural understanding.
On World Heritage Day, the sites in
Germany were presented as “Ambassadors
for UNESCO”. Alongside
the preservation of the monuments
and their authenticity, communication
is the most important task