Prof. Dr. Marie-Theres Albert
IHS Research and Science Centre
The tangible and intangible heritage of people, the cultures of the world and their diversity, as well as the documents of people in memory of their heritage, are the results of human creativity and creative power, which should be used for sustainable development processes. The heritage of humanity also includes natural heritage.
The protection of the heritage of humanity is therefore a challenge to civil society, including its institutions, which must be posed by the international community. The IHS has made the sustainable protection and use of the heritage of humanity its mission, conducting research and teaching in the field of World Heritage, intangible heritage, and documentary heritage.
In November 1972, the General Assembly of the UNESCO adopted the World Heritage Convention for the protection and conservation of natural and cultural property of all types and of all times.
The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted in 2003 as an instrument particularly for the identity building of people.
The Heritage Studies research of documentary heritage lies at the intersection of culture, humanities and information science.
The project “50 Years World Heritage Convention: Shared Responsibility – Conflict & Reconciliation” celebrates the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention by publishing a book and organizing its presentation at an international event. The book reflects upon past and future of World Heritage while taking into account the values of “responsibility”, “reconciliation” and “sustainability”. With 61 authors from 28 countries it represents furthermore the global nature of the Convention. Its presentation is organized as hybrid event on 04 November 2022.
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“Young Climate Action for World Heritage” combines the topics of UNESCO World Heritage and climate change in an innovative way in an educational project. At six UNESCO World Heritage sites, students in international teams deal with climate change. By using creative and action-oriented methods they explore the question: How can we take responsibility for the sustainable preservation of World Heritage sites and for combatting climate change locally? more …
This is a quiz for students, teachers and other interested people, who want to test their knowledge about UNESCO World Heritage. Through 11 questions and answers you learn, for example, what belongs to World Heritage, why the UNESCO World Heritage programme exists and what its goals are.
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In this education project, students and teachers visited transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe and recorded their significance in videos. These and other learning materials were published on a digital learning platform.
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Proceedings of the Summer School: “African Heritage and the Pillars of Sustainability” conducted by the Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies BTU Cottbus, Prof. Dr. Marie-Theres Albert, the team of the fahari yetu project and the University of Iringa. more …