The Heritage Conservation Society

III. HCS NEWS 

1. New HCS website is online
Check out the new HCS website at

http://www.heritage.org.ph

2. Be an affiliate organization of HCS
Existing heritage councils and foundations in the various cities,
municipalities and provinces all over the country are encouraged to
affiliate with the Heritage Conservation Society in order to strengthen
the national network of heritage organizations. As an affiliate, your
organization and contact details will be included in the HCS websites
as an affiliate organization. Contact info@heritage.org.ph for more
information.

3. HCS student chapters
We encourage students to form chapters of the HCS in their own colleges
and universities. Existing organizations can also get themselves
accredited as an HCS student chapter of their school. Please download
guidelines at http://www.geocities.com/ivanhenares/HCS_Youth.pdf for
more information.

4. List of restoration architects and experts
As
a service to the public, we are publishing the names of Filipino
architects and experts with advanced degrees or extensive experience in
heritage conservation and restoration. The list can be found in the
"Membership" section of the HCS website.

IV. HERITAGE

WATCH

1. San Agustin Seminary updates
In
a meeting with Fr. Pedro Galende, director of the San Agustin Museum
last Wednesday, HCS trustee Ivan Anthony Henares found out that reports
and photos of a proposed seminary circulating among cultural workers on
the Internet were not accurate. The photos were from an old design idea
that never became a plan. The blue prints of the current plans are now
on display on the first floor, an exterior reconstruction that was
approved by UNESCO. The current design came about from several
technical working groups which included representatives from the
National Museum, NHI, NCCA and IA, and HCS members.

Visit http://www.heritage.org.ph/news.php?id=9 to view
the current plans.

2. Download memo of Sec. Durano to GM Barbers

Re: Construction of a PTA Sports Complex in Intramuros
http://www.geocities.com/heritageconservationsociety/files/duranomemo.pdf

3. Download the latest version of the Heritage Bill

Senate Committee Report No. 297

http://www.geocities.com/heritageconservationsociety/files/scr297.pdf

V.

WORLD HERITAGE DAY (APRIL 18)
April
18 is World Heritage Day! This year, to mark April 18, ICOMOS
encourages everyone to organize activities to promote the theme

"Cultural Landscapes and Monuments of Nature,"
to take this theme as an opportunity to raise public’s awareness
concerning this heritage and the efforts that are required to protect
and conserve it, as well as to draw attention to its vulnerability.

A whole section of the ICOMOS website is dedicated to the 18 April 2007 (

http://www.international.icomos.org/18thapril/2007/18thapril2007-1.htm
), which will provide you with the information necessary to raise awareness about the theme.

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR MONUMENTS AND SITES

Theme for 2007 : Cultural Landscapes and Monuments of Nature
Theme for 2008 : Religious Heritage and Sacred Places

CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
The
term "cultural landscape" as a World Heritage was introduced after a
long and intensive series of meetings of international experts. They
finally agreed on the definition that cultural landscapes "are cultural
properities and represent the ‘combined works of nature and man,’
illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over
time, under the influence of the physical contraints and/or
opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive,
social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal." The
first site to be inscribed in the Wold Heritage List as a cultural
landscape were the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.

The concept of "cultural landscape" can be divided into two
main categories. The first category includes "clearly defined landscape
designed and created intentionally by man". This can range from garden
and parkland landscape to polders. The second main category is called
the "organically evolved landscape". It is the landscape that "has
developed its present form by association with and in response to its
natural environment".

OVERVIEW
The
International Day for Monuments and Sites (World Heritage Day) was
created on 18th April, 1982, by ICOMOS and later approved at the 22nd
UNESCO General Conference in 1983. This special day offers an
opportunity to raise public’s awareness concerning the diversity of the
world’s heritage and the efforts that are required to protect and
conserve it, as well as to draw attention to its vulnerability. For
seven years now, ICOMOS has been choosing a common theme shared by all
ICOMOS National Committees for this day.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
Below are a number of general suggestions for locally-organized activities to mark this event

• Visits to monuments and sites, and restoration works, possibly with free admission
• Articles in newspapers and magazines, as well as television and radio broadcasts
  
• Hanging
  banners in town squares or principal traffic arteries calling attention
  to the day and the preservation of cultural heritage

• Inviting local and foreign experts and personalities for conferences and interviews
• Organizing discussions in cultural-centers, city halls, and other public spaces
  
• Exhibitions (photos, paintings, etc.)
• Publication of books, post-cards, stamps, posters

• Awarding prizes to
  organizations or persons who have made an outstanding contribution to
  the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage or produced an
  excellent publication on the subject.
  
• Inaugurate a recently restored monument
• Special awareness raising activities amongst school children and youth
  

The
essential thing is to mark this day so that it becomes not only a day
to celebrate your national heritage, but also a day of international
solidarity in favor of strengthening and safeguarding heritage
worldwide.

  

VI. MEMBERS’ HERITAGE BLOGS

X.
ABOUT THE HCS
The HCS is a non-stock, non-profit organization advocating the protection
and preservation of our built heritage, cultural and historical sites
and settings, thus upholding the Philippine Constitution that heritage
and culture should be developed and preserved for national identity.

VISION
A
Filipino society that values and preserves its cultural heritage in
order to instill pride of place and strengthen Philippine national
identity.

MISSION
The
HCS will be the prime mover and advocate for the preservation of
Philippine built heritage resources in order to contribute towards the
establishment of a Society that preserves and values its cultural
heritage through advocacy and volunteerism, project implementation,
education and information.