Cultural Landscape Workshop and International Panel Members Meeting to be held in Bhutan

From 1 to 5 May 2019, the Workshop for Cultural Landscape and Sustaining its Significance - Management of Cultural Sites for Cultural Landscape Sustenance – will be conducted in Punakha and Thimphu, Bhutan. 

This workshop, together with the International Panel Members Meeting, is co-organized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Department of Culture under Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan, and aims to assist the development of management frameworks for a nationally important site - Punakha Dzong, which is also in the World Heritage Tentative List of Bhutan. The Cultural Landscape Initiatives is one of the mainstream works carried out by the Department of Culture, Royal Government of Bhutan, in line with the first ever legislative document in cultural heritage - the Cultural Heritage Bill in Bhutan, from 2014.

Since 2014, UNESCO has supported the Government of Bhutan in understanding, conserving and raising awareness about its Cultural Landscapes. Thanks to a financial contribution from the Paris-based NGO Oriental Cultural Heritage Sites Protection Alliance, the World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Office in New Delhi supported the Department of Culture of Bhutan in hosting an international competition entitled ‘Cultural Landscape – its interpretation and ways to enhance the safeguarding of Cultural Landscape in Bhutan’ in August 2014. The following year, Kyushu University (Japan) joined the above‐mentioned partners to support Bhutan in hosting the 2015 Workshop on Cultural Landscape of Bhutan. The UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust Project ‘Support to the South Asian Cultural Landscape Initiatives’ (2016-2018) built on previous achievements and aimed to further enhance the understanding, conservation and awareness of Cultural Landscapes in Bhutan through a variety of activities. The specific objectives of this two-year project were to create and facilitate national activities/workshops in Bhutan on the topic of Cultural Landscapes; to provide technical assistance to improve documentation, enhance capacities, update legal frameworks, and update national World Heritage tentative list s of Bhutan; and to strengthen awareness of Cultural Landscapes of the country. 

>>>For more information, please find the final report of the project here<<<

In addition to the above, there will be a co-launch ceremony in Thimphu on the morning of 3 May 2019 for the UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Department of Culture, Royal Government of Bhutan co-edited “Support South Asian Cultural Landscape Initiatives; Experience in Bhutan” publication, with the presence of H.E. Minister of Cultural and Home Affairs of Bhutan together with the representatives of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre; the NGO Oriental Cultural Heritage Sites Protection Alliance (Paris) and leading Japanese experts.