A European Future for our Past?

Ironbridge Annual Lecture 2016:  Bénédicte Selfslagh

Bénédicte Selfslagh, President of the Panel of the European Heritage Label, will examine the ways in which the cultural heritage of Europe reminds us not only of shared pasts but also the ways in which the peoples and places of Europe continue to be intimately connected. It provides an overview of how European Cultural Heritage policies have continued to evolve to that ensure that our pasts have a future that is both sustainable and which has high visibility in a global context. In particular, this lecture will highlight the role of the European Heritage Label initiative as a way of profiling sites and locating them in the wider European narrative.

Bénédicte Selfslagh is the President of the Panel of the European Heritage Label. She is a consultant on cultural heritage and World Heritage, and a board member of non-profit organisations and selection panels. Her work experience combines the perspective of an international organisation (the European Commission), a member state (Belgium), an international non-governmental organisation (ICOMOS) and the private sector. She has held several international mandates including the positions of Secretary General of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), Rapporteur of the World Heritage Committee, and Chair of the Steering Committee for the Cultural Heritage (CDPAT) of the Council of Europe. She currently lives in London, and splits her time between London, Brussels and Paris. 

The Ironbridge Annual Lecture is organised by the Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage in partnership with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.