This project has investigated how human rights guarantees, in relation to cultural heritage, have been understood and implemented in the EU and its neighbouring countries.
Acknowledging the changing nature of the right to cultural heritage, the project has mapped how these rights evolving contents have affected the forms of protection, access to and governance of cultural heritage.
The added value of the project took the form of a combined analysis of the relevant laws, of their implementation and their enforcement.
It has provided a theoretical re-conceptualization of the right to cultural heritage, focusing not only on positive law and jurisprudence, but also on soft-law rules, diplomacy and cultural cooperation as possible alternative devices for fostering intercultural dialogue and understanding.
In its practical perspective, the project has analyzed how the technical tools used to manage and protect cultural heritage, in particular, digitization processes with the development of databases, virtual museums, etc., have been considered and how they could be further developed to strengthen the enforcement of the right to cultural heritage throughout the EU, including its external action.
The project has contributed to the development of sustainable strategies for protecting and managing cultural heritage as a means to foster international and intercultural dialogue with the European region.
The project has been based on a collaborative, transnational, interdisciplinary research consortium focused mainly on tangible cultural heritage research, while also including the interlinked aspects of intangible and digital heritage.
The outcomes of the project have been twofold :
Banner: Medium court room in the Ancien Palais building of the Palais de la Cour de Justice complex @Wiki Commons
