New series of roundtable discussions on heritage and international law

A new series of roundtable discussions on heritage and international law launches at Kent on Monday with a session themed on ‘Heritage and Belonging’.

The sessions are co-organised by Kent’s Centre for Heritage and Kent Law School’s Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL).

The first roundtable, from 6pm – 8pm in the Moot Court (Wigoder Law Building) has a focus on Notre Dame de Paris and will address issues arising from the fire that severely damaged the heritage site in April 2019:

  • When does heritage become a symbol of belonging to a culture or a place?
  • What should be the impact of restoration when all buildings are artificial creations and when there are no ethical rules about what they should look like (ironically, it was a distortion of the nineteenth-century theory that produced the modern cathedral of Notre Dame)?
  • What are the challenges of preservation for a site that is both a historic monument and a place of worship?
  • And what is the role of philanthropy in the preservation of heritage?

Each of the five speakers will address these questions within the wider context of their research or practice:

  • The history and identity of the Gothic cathedral: Dr Emily Guerry, School of History
  • The forest of Notre Dame: Professor Karen Jones, School of History
  • There is no such thing as pastiche: Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin, School of Architecture and Planning
  • Challenges of preservation for the Cathedral of Canterbury: Jonathan Deeming, RIBA SCA AABC, Surveyor to the Fabric, Purcell
  • Giving for a good cause, why give to heritage? Andrew Edwards, Canterbury Cathedral Trust

The roundtable session will be filmed by KMTV and made available online in due course.