SeSSiOn 1 - AHTeR

ound table
interviewed, heritage is the transmission of values, and the population has to take ownership of these values.
It is an educative tool towards the young. However, people are worried that future generations will not be able
to understand our heritage anymore. Interviewed people also agreed that heritage is a driver of economic
development, which gives all the more weight to our assembly today.
Mireille Grubert, Director of the Ecole de Chaillot, the main school for heritage architects in France, gave her
thoughts on the so-called opposition between heritage and architecture, which is not as strong as one would
think. Heritage architects are also creators. The world famous architects invited by the Ecole de Chaillot for
public conferences all showed a deep interest in history and heritage. This common appeal has to be taken
advantage of.
Gabriel David, who works for the training department of the Confederation of Craftsmen and Small Construction
Enterprises (CAPEB), put the stress on the rupture of the transmission of construction knowledge, and
insisted on the lack of education of the youth. Young construction professionals who want to gain experience
in heritage now have to start their education anew if their want to gain skills - skills that they could have
obtained much earlier. Furthermore, the industry does not discourage this kind of schizophrenia. This shows
that efforts have to be made towards training, for examples by teaching the history of construction at school.
Christiane Schmückle-Mollard, Chief heritage architect, gave an insight on her experience on the restoration
of churches around Paris. These restoration sites, when opened to the public, are a way to transmit a specific
culture and history to persons who sometime come from other horizons. This kind of experience is vital to
encourage a desire to live together and to share a common heritage.
Marylin Truscott, President of the ISC on Intangible Heritage, told about the need to stay away from top-down
approaches in order to insist on capacity building. For example, there are educative programmes where children
can learn about their local history – by making them meet the old locals, raising awareness of the importance
of their environment - so that they actually know their surroundings and can enjoy their lives there. This
would be a great step toward open-mindedness.
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Le patrimoine, moteur de déveLoppement
Heritage, driver of deveLopment