The First European World Heritage Youth Forum in Dubrovnik signified the
first launching of the "Young People" Participation in the World
Heritage Preservation and Promotion on a regional level. This
regional Forum will be followed by others in Africa, Latin America
and Asia, in fact all over world. It also represented the
welcome continuation of the discussions and conclussions reached
during the World Heritage Youth Forum in Bergen in 1995 which
was a huge succes and a cathalyst for further action; the intention
of the European Forum was to go a step futher towardsestablishing
the Framework of Action during the period 1996-2001 and to develop
a concept for the world Heritage Education Kit. How far both the
teachers and students did come in Dubrovnik is presented in
the Following pages
The dates at the end of May were chosen with regard to the
simultaneous holding of two expert meetings in Dubrovnik,
dedicated to cultural tourism and involving representatives
of UNESCO, the World Bank, the World Monuments Fund, etc.
In this way, it was possible to invite some of the
eminent experts to participate in the work of the Forum.
Mr. Henry Cleere, ICOMOS, and Mr. Lester Borley, Europa Nostra,
have thus helped us to introduce the issues of World Heritage
and Cultural Tourism to Forum participants and we wish
to thank them for their generous contribution.
Events such as the Forum, bringing together young people from
different countries, always involve more than simply paper work.
Heritage, after all, is to be found all around us, as most
of the national projects discussed in Dubrovnik clearly demonstrated.
The organizers have, therefore, decided to pay as much attention
to the events accompanying the official agenda of the Forum. One of
the most important issues was to give young people enough place for
their work, in preparation of Dubrovnik and accomplished during
the Forum. Posters made by the students themselves, recalling the
main issues of the Forum, were displayed in Front of the conference rooms
and the results from the creative workshops were presented
on the last day of the Forum.
The exhibition in the shopwindows of the Dubrovnik Old City's
main street (Stradun), where participating countries presented
symbols of their heritage (each country was allocated one
shopwindow) provoked sincere admiration both of the participants
and the citizens of Dubrovnik. Part of the exhibition at the
Sponza palace where students' works from Dubrovnik and Split
were presented, was inaugurated by the Lord Mayor of Dubrovnik,
Mr. Nikola Obuljen, the one in the main street by Mr. Miho Katicic,
Head of the Educational ane Cultural Affairs in the city of Dubrovnik.
Various musical events accompanied the Forum, offered by the
organizers as a special gift to the City of Dubrovnik which warmly
embraced us all. With help From the French Cultural Institute in
Zagreb it was possible to bring to Dubrovnik a renowned French ethno-jazz
group 'Fawzi". The Austrian Cultural Institute offered us one of
the best European jazz musicians, Karl Heinz Miklin and his trio,
while the British Council and Berislav Tankovic helped out in
bringing to Dubrovnik our old friend Allan Taylor, associated
with UNESCO programmes in Dubrovnik since 1994, this time
accompanied by Gilbert Todd. Folk music from Dubrovnik and Croatia
was seen on the national Independence day, performed by the
famous "Lindjo" folk company.
An evening at the theatre brought together students from the
ASP schools in Dubrovnik and Split who offered us a playful
introduction into the history of these two World Heritage cities
and fragments from plays by the best known Dubrovnik playwrights,
Marin Drzic and Ivo Vojnovic, under the expert guidance from Nina Hladilo.
Thanks to the Forum, the city of Dubrovnik was once again buzzing
with life. TV and the media distributed the message of the
Forum nationwide and a news flash was prepared by UNESCO for CNN.
The Forum participants did not, however, rely on the media for
keeping them informed - a dilligent team of editors (Irena Horvatic,
Ana Sobat, Goranka Marevic and Rada Zlatoper) worked hard every
night so that by morning the daily issue of Patrimonito Newsletter
was ready for distribution.
Add to this warm southern evenings and the songs and
late-hour conversation on the beach outside the hotel
and you will easily imagine the atmosphere in which the Forum was held.
The organization of the Forum would have been impossible without
help from our colleagues and friends in Dubrovnik, especially
Jelica Pekovic and Jozo Serdarevic. Kalja Nadramija, Anica Kisic,
Dubravka Zvrko, Ana Opalic, Ana-Marija Bogisic, Maro Bijelic,
Nenad Bobanac and Josko Bozanic animated and helped out with the
creative workshops. Lada Males and Damir Mrkonjic assisted in setting
up and introducing the Internet workshop. Didier Happe and Matko
Vetma from 'Gradjevinar-Quelin" helped to prepare the restoration
workshop. Finally, this is the oportunity to thank the organizing
committee in Croatia: Nevenka Lonza, Jadranka Huljev,
Smilja Celigoj-Grimani, Dubravka Males, Alida Matkovic,
Ivanka Stricevic, Vedrana Spajic-Vrkas and the national
Project co-ordinator Jasenka Zuvela-Splivalo.
The organizers in Dubrovnik would like to thank UNESCO, in particular Breda Pavlic, Elizabeth Khawajkie, Sigrid Niedermayer, Maria Perers and Saurenne Deleuil for their continuous guidance and care beyond the call of duty. Our sincere gratitude to the Rhone-Poulene Foundation and Caty Forget for making the Forum in Dubrovnik possible.
Our thanks also go to the Dubrovnik Archives and its Director Ivan Mustac, the Dubrovnik branch of the Croatian Television and the shopowners along the main street in the Old City.
Most of all, we would like to thank the students from Dubrovnik and Split for being such good hosts to their colleagues.