Museums
Museums foster an integrated approach to cultural heritage as well as the links of continuity between creation and heritage. They also enable various publics, notably local communities and disadvantaged groups, to rediscover their roots and approach other cultures.
Nevertheless, many museum staff lack—often severely—the technical knowledge that meets international professional standards. Moreover, movable cultural objects are particularly threatened, due to their value both as commercial goods and as components of cultural identity, by illicit trafficking.
Therefore, UNESCO’s strategy focuses on: Least Developed Countries (LDC) and countries in emergency situations (post-conflict or post-natural disaster), particularly in Africa; and the museums and collections that best contribute to an integrated understanding of heritage and their potential contribution to the economic, social and human development of local communities and disadvantaged groups.
This strategy is implemented through: training activities involving simple and efficient techniques for safeguarding objects, with a special emphasis on the creation of pedagogical tools; museum development by strengthening professional networks and partnerships; improving educational content and access to knowledge through awareness-raising and educational activities; promoting the return, restitution and improved access to cultural objects by means of awareness-raising and advisory activities and innovative partnerships; and finally, through the joint implementation of normative and operational activities, particularly in regard to the fight against illicit trafficking and the protection of underwater heritage.
News
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12.11.15
#Unite4Heritage brings cultural heritage to the heart of UNESCO General Conference
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19.08.15
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova deplores the loss of two leading scholars of Syrian antiquity
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29.05.15
International partners meet in Paris to protect Iraqi and Syrian cultural heritage
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12.05.15
UNESCO Director-General calls on all parties to protect Yemen’s cultural heritage
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28.03.15
#Unite4Heritage campaign launched by UNESCO Director-General in Baghdad
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16.03.15
UNAMI, UNESCO stand behind Iraqi academia in fight against heritage destruction
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28.02.15
Director-General welcomes UN Security Council statement on destruction of artifacts at Mosul Museum
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27.02.15
UNESCO calls for mobilization to stop "cultural cleansing" in Iraq
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26.02.15
Director-General requests UN Security Council meeting on destruction of heritage in Mosul
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03.02.15
UNESCO alarmed by news of mass destruction of books in Mosul
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21.01.15
Safeguarding Mali’s ancient manuscript collections, an international conference in Bamako
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21.12.14
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03.12.14
UNESCO Conference calls for protected cultural zones to be established in Syria and Iraq
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05.09.14
UNESCO, ICCROM and ICOM discuss cooperation on cultural heritage with Government of Egypt
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05.03.14
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10.02.14
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05.02.14
A UNESCO emergency mission to launch rehabilitation of the Islamic Arts Museum of Cairo
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11.07.12
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12.06.12
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21.05.12
UNESCO and ILAM create CD-Rom tutorial to help museums work with local communities
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14.03.12
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18.07.11
Revitalising World Heritage Site Museums in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam
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27.06.11
UNESCO, CHDA and the National Museums of Tanzania Team up for Museum Training