Cultural Heritage Administration to Host "World Heritage Site Managers Forum"

July 16-23 in Busan: "Connection and Communication" as the Forum Theme
Field Visits to Gyeongju, Ulsan, and Gimhae Including the Bangudae Petroglyphs

The Cultural Heritage Administration and the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, together with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), will host the "8th World Heritage Site Managers Forum" at BEXCO in Busan from July 16th to 23rd.

Bangu-dae Petroglyphs in Daegok-ri, Ulju.

This is an official pre-event to the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting, which opens on July 19th. This year, around eighty site managers and experts from various countries will discuss the theme "Connection and Communication: Participatory Approaches to World Heritage Management." The forum will cover topics such as inclusive and people-centered management, integrated cooperative systems, data-based decision making, holistic risk management, and community revitalization. Participants will also visit Gyeongju, Ulsan, and Gimhae to observe relevant sites.

On July 16th, representatives from the Cultural Heritage Administration, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and other organizations will gather to review each country's management systems and cooperation cases.

On July 17th, participants will visit Yangdong Village and Oksan Seowon in Gyeongju, as well as the Bangudae Petroglyphs in Ulsan. At Yangdong Village, which has been inhabited and managed by descendants for generations, they will explore cases of people-centered participatory preservation. At Oksan Seowon, one of the "Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies," they will learn about integrated management systems for serial heritage sites. In the afternoon, discussions on the preservation of the "Petroglyphs of Bangudae Stream" and regional revitalization will take place at the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center.

On July 18th, a joint session will be held with participants of the "World Heritage Youth Professionals Forum" to exchange intergenerational experiences and policies. On July 20th, sustainable use of world heritage sites and community revitalization cases will be explored at the Gyeongju Historic Areas. Participants will visit the currently excavated sites of Wolseong and Jjoksaem Tumuli, share experiences on disaster risk reduction developed after the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, and discuss the need to introduce a "Korean-style integrated risk management plan."

On July 23rd, participants will visit the National Gaya History and Culture Center and the Daeseong-dong Tumuli in Gimhae. They will examine cases of world heritage preservation within urban environments and view works by local young artists.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.