St. André International Institute for Ethics of Heritage Conservation

Context

The conservation of our shared heritage, whether in the form of historical buildings, works of art, landscapes, or cultural practices, is rapidly growing and supported by many national and international organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The region in which the physical headquarters of the St. André International Center for Ethics and Integrity are located is replete with recognized World Heritage Sites, from the Pont-du-Gard (depicted above) to the Roman temple known as Maison Carré in Nîmes, and the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, but also and much older the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave system to the north, the Cévennes Natural Park to the west, and the Camargues to the south.

Heritage conservation is a comple enterprise that involves a continues balancing of overlapping but also competing values, from historic integrity to economic use, and from cultural authenticity to ecological sustainability. And even within each of these subdomains, ethical conflicts can arise, for most heritage objects represent multiple layers of historical development, raising the question which of the layers deserves to be conserved. Indeed, one can argue that the very practice of heritage conservation is normative, for it presumes that some artifacts from the past are important and valuable and hence ought to be conserved – an assumption that is not self-evident.

Objective

Heritage conservation is a relatively young profession, at least when compared to medicine, architecture, or education. As a result, the scholarly exploration of the values, norms and principles that guide this practice is also relatively new. Indeed, compared to for example bioethics, there are relatively few scholars who are focusing on this area, and only a small number of publications has so far been issued. The same is true for ethics courses as part of heritage conservation degree programs.

By turning the area of heritage conservation ethics into a focus area, the St André International Center for Ethics and Integrity hopes to stimulate reflection annd research in this important interdisplinary area.

Activities

RESOURCES . The first phase in the instutute’s engagement in this new domain is to generate an inventory of resources in this area. We kindly request that if you have materials to add to this inventory, to please email the Center at info@saintandre.org so we can add these sources to the growing inventory. We are currently working on the following categories of resources in heritage ethics:

EDUCATION / PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. The Institute’s primary undertaking to realize the aforementioned objectives is by organizing intensive ethics seminars. We hope to dedicate one of our upcoming ethics seminars to the area of heritage conservation. If you are interested in attending such a seminar, or possibly in a joint organization of such a seminar, lease email the Center at info@saintandre.org>
In our seminars, we always stive to:

  • bring together a small group of interested individuals (max 20),
  • for an extended (4-5 days) period of intensive intellectual work together,
  • alternated with excursions to relevant historic and cultural sites in the area and a shared reflection on insights gained,
  • with time fore relaxation as well as creating new friendships while enyoying a coffee, glass of wine, or dinner together..

The Institute can also develop educational programs in response to specific requests from other entities such as associations or institutions of higher education.

RESEARCH. The Institute undertakes targeted research projects on specific themes. These projects either reflect the strategic research agenda of the Institute itself, or are undertaken in response to external entities requesting a critical examination of an urgent ethical challenge.

Leadership Team

  • Jos V.M. Welie, MA, MMedS, JD, PhD. Founding President of the St. André International Center for Ethics and Integrity (France)
  • J. Welie

Advisory Board

To be added

Additional information

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