Federal Minister for Culture Gernot Blümel: Shaping diverse European cultural heritage in a sustainable way

The Closing Conference of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 – entitled #EuropeForCulture – took place on 6 and 7 December in Vienna

“Our cultural heritage is a treasure – and all of us are its heirs”,

Gernot Blümel, the Federal Minister for the EU, Arts, Culture and Media, declared at the joint press conference with EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics and Member of the European Parliament Petra Kammerevert that took place on 7 December 2018 in Vienna on the occasion of the Closing Conference of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 held under the motto #EuropeForCulture.

“Cultural heritage is diverse: it ranges from art collections, architecture, archaeological sites to immaterial goods like traditions, rituals, celebrations or special knowledge. But we also have a joint responsibility to dust off cultural heritage, to develop it further and preserve it”,

Gernot Blümel continued.

The Federal Chancellery created the website www.kulturerbejahr2018.at. Dedicated to the Year of Cultural Heritage, it provides comprehensive information on cultural heritage and invites people to participate – an initiative crowned by success. By using a common motto, smaller dedicated projects also found their place in the limelight. Around 200 projects and nearly 100 different events were carried out under the Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.

“Our goal was to highlight the diversity and importance of Austrian and European cultural heritage, and to raise awareness of it”,

said the Federal Minister. He continued by saying:

“What we have to do now is take the impetus of the Year of Cultural Heritage and carry it over into next year. Therefore, I am even more delighted that the closing conference is taking place here in Vienna.”

The common goal to continue the success of the Year of Cultural Heritage was also highlighted by EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics:

“I hope that 31 December will not be the end. With just under 12 000 events we succeeded in reaching out to some six million people across Europe. We also want to keep focusing on the youth in the coming years.”

The European Year of Cultural Heritage has also accompanied Austria during its presidency of the Council of the EU. On the one hand, a broad cultural framework programme offered the possibility to increase the visibility of Austrian cultural heritage across the European Union. The exhibition “Beyond Klimt”, which was on display in the Belvedere museum in Vienna and has now moved to Brussels, has been seen by around 50 000 visitors alone. At the same time, cultural heritage was also an essential and important topic under the two large dossiers that were up for negotiation in the area of culture: the EU work plan for culture 2019‑2022 and Creative Europe 2021-2027.

“Cultural heritage is not only the heritage of the past but also a driver for shaping the future. For the creative work of today will be the cultural heritage of tomorrow”,

the Federal Minister for Culture, Gernot Blümel, concluded.

More information about the event can be found on the event page.