Heritage

ContentsCultural heritage is the physical traces of history. It is the silent witness of conflicts,wars and clashes between nations. The understanding of our shared heritage fostersmutual understanding, reconciliation and peace.This Teacher’s Manual is part of a package provided in support of the UNESCOeducational project, ‘Heritage for Peace and Reconciliation’, which also includes filmsand a brochure. The Heritage for Peace and Reconciliation project will help educatorsto introduce the concepts of dialogue, peace and reconciliation into their curriculumthrough the understanding of cultural heritage. They may use the examples providedto prepare school projects, excursions or exhibitions, or to enrich everyday lessons.One important occasion to pursue activities and cooperative initiatives could be eachyear on 21 December, the UN’s International Peace Day.Choosing a concrete time period and a concrete type of heritage, this manual focuseson underwater cultural heritage from the First World War, socially one of the mostdevastating wars of the last century. One of the novelties of that war, which had a particularlygreat impact on the civil population, was the development of naval warfare,and in particular submarine warfare. This warfare has left an extensive submergedheritage. While these educational materials focus on the underwater cultural heritagefrom the First World War, the same approach can be adopted using examples of underwatercultural heritage from the Second World War, or other periods of time inwhich conflict involved large numbers of engagements at sea.The project was agreed upon by all States Parties to the UNESCO 2001 Conventionon the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The States wish to use theCentenary of the First World War to promote peace education, in particular throughfostering the protection and understanding of submerged heritage. The wish was forpeace education on the occasion of the Centenary of the First World War, especiallyfostering the protection and understanding of submerged heritage. They also wishedto draw attention to the newly provided protection afforded to underwater culturalheritage from that period by the UNESCO 2001 Convention.