03/04/2008
Vitoria-Gasteiz, 3rd April 2008.- Gonzalo
Arroita, the former Managing Director of the Santa María Cathedral
Foundation, and Agustín Azkarate, a Professor of Archaeology, will be
taking part tomorrow in a congress entitled ‘Melilla, the hushed voice
of the Mediterranean’. During this event, at which various experts will
debate the issues of cities, heritage and water, they will each be
giving lectures about the old Cathedral and the medieval walls of
Vitoria, and talking about how they have invigorated the city’s
Historic Quarter.
The congress is one of the
events taking place in the Autonomous City of Melilla as part of its
participation in Expo Zaragoza, where it will have its own pavilion.
The events held over the past year have aimed to raise public awareness
of the development projects planned for the area. ‘City, heritage and
water’ is organised by the Spanish Open University (UNED) Centre
located in Melilla, in collaboration with the Government’s Department
for the Environment.
This meeting
will also provide a foretaste of the monumental heritage congress being
held in Vitoria this year, in which eminent international experts are
expected to participate, from prestigious organisations such as UNESCO,
World Monument Fund, the Association of Walled Cities and Europa
Nostra, among others. Participants in the congress will study the
restoration of the walls as a source of knowledge and the backbone of
the old city from a social and urban point of view.
In
Melilla, there will be three days of lectures and roundtable
discussions to analyse the aspects that characterise the Mediterranean
culture. The interest sparked by the initiative to open the Cathedral
renovation work to the public, as well as the social function of
heritage, will be the central themes tackled by Gonzalo Arroita and
Agustín Azcarate in their lectures. They will highlight how public
investment in heritage assets must product social returns in the form
of education, training, culture, tourism, historical knowledge and
environmental recovery.
The congress
began yesterday, Wednesday, with the launch of the book ‘Melilla, la
voz callada del Mediterráneo’ (Melilla, the hushed voice of the
Mediterranean), written by Ángel Morúa, Salvador Moreno and Antonio
Bravo. Following this event, the first lecture, entitled ‘The United
Nations Programme Water for Life 2005-2015,’ was delivered by Carlos
Fernández-Jauregui, director of Water for Life at this international
organisation.
Today,
Thursday, the keynote speakers will be Venetian architect Rinio
Bruttomesso, talking about the network of cities and water, giving his
own city as an example, and Mohamed Awad, from the Alexandra Research
Centre, will be giving a lecture entitled ‘Alexandra: a case of
seafront conservation and development’.
Tomorrow
(Thursday), as well as Arroita and Azcarate, Salvador Moreno, Director
of the Special Plan for Old Melilla, will be taking the reins along
with Nuria Sánz, from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, who will talk
about the conservation of the historic city. The congress will come to
a close with a roundtable discussion in which Pablo Longoria will speak
on behalf of the New York World Monument Fund. The Fund is the largest
private patron of cultural heritage in the world, and in 2006 it
included the Cathedral of Santa María on its select list of protected
monuments in the world.
Furthermore,
participants will be taking part in guided tours of Melilla’s old
fortress and the city’s modernist buildings, as well as an excursion to
discover the city from the sea. The conclusions drawn from the congress
will be presented at Expo Zaragoza.
Rellenar aquí