“The A-Bomb Dome and Itsukushima Shrine – World Heritage Sites in Hiroshima”

About the Roundtable

The A-Bomb Dome and Itsukushima Shrine, the two World Heritage sites in Hiroshima, represent unique values to humanity as a whole as well as to the people of Hiroshima. Like the other 11 sites in Japan and the 810 properties on the World Heritage List, the inclusion of these sites has brought prestige and international recognition. However, it is this very recognition as World Heritage Sites with “outstanding universal value” that has also given rise to new obligations for site managers, citizens, and the country conserving and using them.  In the context of international World Heritage Sites management practice, what potential do the sites hold and what memory must they conserve and convey to future generations?

As part of a week-long workshop focussing on the tangible and intangible aspects of World Heritage Sites, the Roundtable will bring together seven experts to share ideas on the Hiroshima Heritage Sites during an open panel discussion.

About the UNITAR Series on World Heritage Sites Management

The UNITAR Series on World Heritage Sites Management, started in 2004, focuses on the diverse, changing and often elusive values which make a site worth conserving. Taking into account the objectives of the 1972 Convention and the positive (and negative) impacts after inscription onto the World Heritage List, UNITAR and its network of experts are working through training towards a better management of and planning for World Heritage sites.

About the Workshop

In the context of an annual, week-long UNITAR training workshop on this theme, 40 world-class experts will gather in Hiroshima to debate and discuss the objectives, reality and means of improving the World Heritage regime, and also share their ideas on Hiroshima’s own sites. The 2006 workshop will focus on a number of values, deriving either from the material characteristics (land, nature, buildings, animals, architectural beauty) or immaterial aspects (tradition, spiritual value, religion, history, pride, message) embodied in the site. Study tours to the A-Bomb Dome, Peace Park and Miyajima, including the Itsukushima Shrine, will provide relevant and living case studies for the participants.