Seminar on cultural and industrial world heritage in mining and metallurgy – a European fact-finding

As part of the stakeholder engagement and networking of regions, MIREU partner GKZ Freiberg carried out a one-day ‘Seminar on Cultural and Industrial World Heritage in Mining and Metallurgy – a European Fact-Finding’. The seminar, a follow-up measure of the Regional Kick-off Conference of GKZ, was well perceived and contributed to the clustering assisted by MIREU partner Technical University of Athens. It combined regional heritage valorisation in terms of site development, World Heritage application, and implementation. Also project related heritage valorisation was on the agenda and was presented by Interreg projects targeting the material and immaterial heritage.

The aim of the seminar was to investigate 1) the different regional value adding by cultural and industrial heritage; 2) mining resumption in heritage sites; 3) a cost-benefit analysis of World Heritage Sites; as well as 4) exchanging experiences and best practises made in regional development.

Therefore, the presentations of the seminar covered topics such as post mining heritages on the UNESCO World Heritage (WH) tentative list; a heritage with the UNESCO WH designation but support resumption of mining; a detailed cost and benefits analysis of heritage; best practices from Interreg projects regarding heritage valorisation; and real-life practices from post mining heritage sites.

The attendees saw the seminar as a successful start for future similar regional networking activities, in preparation for the Stakeholder Workshops. Further, the seminar’s cross-regional topic connected a critical number of European regions, who have much in common showing first add-on activities to follow up.

The seminar also provided a space for topic-specific discussions and knowledge exchange beyond the agenda of the day and offered partners the opportunity to expand their activities around MIREU. GKZ Freiberg is planning another Seminar on Stakeholder Engagement and Networking in November 2018 in Seville, with a focus on the Southern Iberian mining and metallurgy regions such as Andalusia and Southern Portugal.

Photo: Partners and stakeholders from Austria, Greece, Germany, and Finland joined the first Seminar on the MIREU Networking theme: World Heritage and Mining – which is subject to diverse strategies in regional development. GKZ's head office -an early 16th century patrician house – offered the perfect environment. Copyright: GKZ