Canterbury and the Via Francigena: Promoting Heritage through Cultural Routes is a new project organised by the Centre for Heritage at the University of Kent, with the aim of engaging the public with heritage, including a workshop, conference and volunteering opportunities.

As part of the project, a one-day conference entitled ‘Cultural Heritage in Danger: Illicit Trafficking, Armed Conflicts and Cultural Diplomacy’ will be held in Canterbury Cathedral Lodge on 9 June 2017.

After World War II, the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict recognised the need to protect and preserve heritage for the benefit of mankind. In the last 60 years, this Convention has been ratified by 129 countries, the latest being the UK in February 2017, and has improved the international framework regulating the protection of cultural heritage in time of conflict.

The conference will bring together senior government officials and leading academics from the UK and continental Europe to assess improvements and weaknesses of heritage protection in the current era of terrorist warfare, where ideology, social media and clickbait concur to destroy heritage as recently seen in Palmyra and Mosul. It will also assess developments in the fight against the trafficking of cultural property and discuss new ways of enhancing cooperation between states, as well as Europe and Great Britain in the uncertain time of Brexit. Finally, speakers will discuss how cultural diplomacy can facilitate dialogue between communities that have been torn apart by conflict.

Registration is £50 (£25 student registration). If you have any queries, please contact Maria Dimitriou at: M.Dimitriou@kent.ac.uk

For full details about the workshop, please see the conference webpage.