TODAY.AZ / Arts & Entertainment

Baku celebrates European Heritage Days

15 October 2014 [09:53] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Nigar Orujova

Baku has inaugurated European Heritage Days by attracting about eighty national coordinators and representatives from Europe.

During the presidency of Azerbaijan in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Baku is going to host a series of events organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Council of Europe and the European Union within the Days on October 13-17.

Before the event, the guests made a tour of a photo exhibition "Communities form heritage: Faces of Azerbaijan."

Addressing the event, Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev spoke about the country's active participation in international projects, noted the fruitful outcome of "The Baku conference - the first platform for the exchange of culture and digitizing" that was held in July.

"Cultural heritage is one of the priorities of Azerbaijan. The country has approved the Concept of "Azerbaijan 2020: Vision into the future", which focuses on the preservation of cultural heritage, much had been done and projects implemented for rehabilitation and reconstruction of cultural heritage," he said.

Then a video was played about the implementation of the project "European Heritage Days" in Azerbaijan. Also a video message of Director of Democratic Governance at the Council of Europe Claudia Luciani was broadcasted during the event.

Head of the Council of Europe's Baku office, Dragan Filipovich, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard, Director of the European Programme for Development of the European Commission Monica Urian de Sousa and manager of the project "European Heritage Days" Madelena Grossman noted that the main objective of the project is to provide free access for local and foreign visitors to the cultural heritage, to draw public attention to the issue of conservation of historical and cultural monuments, as well as to promote the national cultural heritage.

During the event, a forum called "Local communities are formed European format heritage", the final meeting of the project for the current year in Europe, the annual meeting of the national coordinators, as well as a training course would be held. The project, which is celebrated annually in the member countries of the Council of Europe and the European Union, organized in the form of awareness-raising campaigns, open days, evenings folklore and ethnographic discoveries official celebrations.

"European Heritage Days" is one of the cultural initiatives, which is celebrated on a massive scale in the context of cooperation between the citizens of Europe. This initiative, launched in 1985 by the Council of Europe, was joined by the European Commission in 1999. Both structure together continue this program at present.

Every year, this project is implemented in 50 European countries, and on certain days visitors are provided with free access to thousands of historical sites and attractions.

By projects like this, the Europeans are actively involved in efforts to preserve and improve the cultural heritage for present and future generations. Every year, this initiative attracts about 20 million people. As part of this project, the Open Doors Days were held in Azerbaijan on October 11-12.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/entertainment/137029.html

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