Žerotínovo nám. 9, 601 77 Brno

phone / fax: +420 (5) 42 128 237

At the beginning of 1998 we said farewell to the founder and long-time head of UNESCO ISSOM, Zbynik Z. Stránský, Ph.D., who became Chair of Eco-museology at the Matej Bel University in Bánská Bystrica (Slovakia).

ISSOM was pleased to open its own web page accessible in the framework of the university’s homepage, and on which we inform electronic visitors interested in museum studies about ISSOM’s various activities.

At the turn of September and October ISSOM organised a special study course dedicated to museum collecting. Within its framework ISSOM held an international symposium which dealt with museum collecting strategies. The symposium was conducted in co-operation with the Munich publishing house of Dr. Christian Mueller-Straten in the beautiful surroundings of the Evangelist Academy in Tutzing on the banks of the Starnberger Lake (about 50 km to the southwest). Eleven participants from six countries – Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Spain, the Czech Republic – took part in the course. ISSOM was able to re-establish co-operation with the Moravian Museum, using museum facilities and engaging its specialists as lecturers.

In co-operation with the Institute of Archaeology and Museology of the MU Faculty of Arts, ISSOM prepared special seminars on the use of computer technology for the designing of short-term and long-term museum exhibitions adapted to the museology study programme at the faculty. ISSOM has also prepared such courses for Czech and Slovak museum specialists for next year.

In November 1998 the first meeting of the ISSOM working group took place at which the present situation at ISSOM was evaluated and a programme proposal delivered to the senior management of the university on improving the work of ISSOM. The working group recommended that ISSOM became a part of the UNESCO Chair of World Heritage.

ISSOM also established contact with specialists on study programmes in the USA who have performed an evaluation of the ISSOM study programme from the perspective of American students.

Head: Prof. Dr. Vinoš Sofka, Ph.D.h.c.

Žerotínovo nám. 9, 601 77 Brno

phone: +420 (5) 42128 372, phone/fax: +420 (5) 42 128 396

or phone: +46 (8) 792 09, fax: +46 (8) 758 14 74

In 1998, the main aims of the Chair were:

1. to have a great impact on international and supranational discipline boards and committees
2. to contribute on an international level to integration of efforts for preservation and development of cultural heritage
1. to gain prestige among its foreign partnership institutions as a co-ordinating head office of the UNESCO Transition Project (also known as Heritage, Museology and Museums for Social, Cultural and Environmental Transition), the main aim of which is to provide professional support for countries in the transformation process from totalitarianism to democracy.

The intergovernmental UNESCO conference on ”The Power of Culture: Our Creative Diversity” was an important initiative for the strengthening of these efforts. The conference was held in Stockholm in March 1998, and the Chair of the UNESCO Department gave a speech on the subject of Cultural Heritage for Development. Throughout the year, he participated actively in discipline conferences and seminars held in Germany, South Africa, Mexico, Sweden, Australia and the Philippines. These visits enabled him to promote initiatives of the department abroad and connect these activities to many local projects. The Chair also led many international workshops, and held discussions with representatives of museum end heritage organisations, universities, UNESCO national committees, etc. which enabled him to establish new contacts for the Department. In this way, it was possible to bring the Melbourne sitting of the Third UNESCO Forum on ”University and Heritage” to include in its 1999 plan of priorities the forming of a wide network of universities, museums, archives and other institutions which would co-operate with the Brno Department. The International Committee for Museology signed a resolution supporting the existence of the Department and its programme, and the final resolution of the ICOM general meeting approved the implementation of the Transition Project.