Context 159 - May 2019

40 C O N T E X T 1 5 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 9 decades after. The 1970s, 80s and – particularly in the former eastern bloc – the 1990s saw much money and effort spent on saving what still remained of the rich heritage. In addition to statutory protection and conservation support at national, regional and local levels, organisa- tions like Europa Nostra promoted the idea of a European Heritage. Since 1963 it has been active in the field of heritage as a pan-European federation of non-governmental organisations, ‘to defend the cause of heritage and its role as an essential and dynamic component of European identity, which constitutes for European citizens both a unifying factor and a guarantee of the protection of their cultural diversity.’ 3 This twofold mission was also implicit in the motto of the most recent pan-European initiative, the sequel to the 1975 European Architectural HeritageYear.The 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage was conducted under the subtitle ‘Our heritage: where the past meets the future’ and its overarching motto was ‘Sharing Heritage’. This aimed at ‘celebrating cultural heritage as a shared resource, raising awareness of common history and values, and reinforcing a sense of belonging to a common European cultural and political space’ 4 . In stark contrast to the one 43 years earlier, but not surprising in the political context, European Year of Cultural Heritage seems to have stayed very much under the radar in the UK. At least that is what the official website implies. While the web contents for each EU country 5 vary, in comparison with other countries the dedicated space for the UK is painfully empty and unloved. The North of England Civic Trust had agreed to perform the role of national coordinator, responsible for encouraging participation and publicising events during the year, but it appears that it struggled to fulfil this role, judging by its web presence. The UK heritage appears not to have made a concerted effort with representation on the official EU platform. This may be not so much a reflection of the trust, but possibly of a lack of optimism, purpose and funding for the entire project in the UK, which also did not host any of the key European events of the year. The appar- ent lack of a coordinated interrogation about the meaning of European Heritage in the UK seems to have mirrored the political paralysis the country is finding itself in. While this would need to be researched dif- ferently, it raises the question whether heritage activities in the UK are now following an agenda which is more inward looking, reverting to traditional notions of heritage. In 2003 an American heritage expert, Antoinette J Lee, stated that ‘the United Kingdom’s heritage preservation and conservation programs… now seem narrowly focused on architectural and classical archaeological values’ 6 . Although I do not consider this an accurate analysis of the time, there is now a danger that this might become true when heritage is limit- ing its (European) connections, and moreover is forced to reduce its remit following the severe and ongoing funding cuts for heritage organisations and respective resources in local planning authorities. Such a tendency would be particularly regrettable given the progressive role the UK has played in expanding the heritage agenda in the last few decades. Sharing Heritage was also the title of a conference which took place in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, in October 2018. It was organised by the Association for Theory and Higher Education of Architectural Heritage 7 . Founded and based in Germany since the 1970s, this is a group of university lecturers in the fields of architectural conservation, history and heritage which holds annual conferences in different European locations. Originally almost exclusively German-speaking, it has evolved as an increasingly European platform, although for many years now regrettably with no active original membership from the UK. In her key note talk ‘Re-nationalisation or Sharing Heritage?’, Ingrid Scheurmann, who has extensively researched and publicised the value of heritage, went straight in with a critique of the project: The European Year of Cultural Heritage was not fully exploring the funda- mental question of what sharing entails, who was included and who was excluded, and what exactly the cohesive power of our shared heritage was.This was surprising given not just the broad spectrum of events, but also the nature of coor- dinated efforts such as the workshop ‘Cultural heritage overcomes boundaries’, 8 which took place in June 2018 in collaboration between the ³ Europa Nostra Statute (as adopted by the Europa Nostra General Assembly on 3 June 2009 inTaormina, Sicily) ⁴ https://ec.europa.eu/ culture/sites/culture/ files/library/documents/ staff-working- document-european- agenda-culture-2018. pdf ⁵ https://europa.eu/ cultural-heritage/ country-links_en ⁶ Lee, Antoinette J. (2003) ‘The Social and Ethnic Dimensions of Historic Preservation’ in Robert E. Stipe (ed), A Richer Heritage: historic preservation in the twenty-first century ⁷ Arbeitskreis für Theorie und Lehre der Denkmalpflege e.V. https://www. uni-bamberg.de/ denkmalpflege/aktld/ ⁸ https://www.unesco . de/kultur-und-natur/ europaeisches- kulturerbejahr/ grenzen-ueberwinden- ein-gemeinsames- europa-staerken In 1975 the EU came together for the first time in a joint European Architectural Heritage Year.