UNESCO CHAIR OF MUSEOLOGY aND WORLD HERITAGE

The activities of the UNESCO Chair during, and especially at the end of the year 2000, made possible by the grant of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, from the Minister's reserve for educational activities, significantly strengthened the endeavours of the Chair to realise its programme. The Transition Project, which is focused on the help to countries undergoing the process of difficult post-totalitarian change on the way to democracy, tolerance and respect for human rights, was emphasized. The most important result of these efforts was the establishment in Brno on 7 December 2000 of the International Movement From Oppression to Democracy of institutions and workers in the field of heritage, the memory of the totalitarian past, with the aim to support the process of democratic transformation in the world in the framework of the co-operative network of the Chair.

This base made possible continuing the activities of the Chair in the year 2001 with priority to further broaden the network and to create conditions to carry out its regional and local activities. A request made to the Ministry of Education for the year 2001 stressed that it was necessary to create in Brno a co-ordination centre of the network and of the International Movement, to carry out a promotional campaign for membership with workshops and seminars, and to make possible the participation of the director of the Chair (and of his colleagues) in professional activities organized with the partners in individual participating countries. Special priority was given to urgently ensuring finances for organising the courses of the International Summer School in Museology of the Chair (ISSOM). The School is aimed particularly at workers in heritage institutions in post-totalitarian countries, who take care of the safeguard of the heritage and of the memory of their past, including their creative use for the development of democratic society. 

The Ministry granted funds for "the development of the UNESCO Chair for Museology and World Heritage" in mid-2001. This enabled several important activities. However, it was not possible at this late date to realise the Summer School, where again all interested persons from developing countries informed the Chair that they needed complete support for travel, tuition and board.

Of the international activities in the year 2001 in which the director of the Chair co-operated, the following most important results can be mentioned:

• negotiations, symposia, workshops organised in different cities of Siberia and in Moscow at which were discussed and created conditions for the participation of Russian universities, museums and other institutions in the programme of the Chair – May and June 2001, Russian Federation;

• participation in the proceedings of the General Assembly of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in Barcelona and continued membership of the Chair – July 2001, Spain;

• inclusion of the Transition Project of the Chair among the four pilot programmes of the International Committee of ICOM for Museology (ICOFOM) for the years 2001-2003;

• working meeting with the cultural workers at the invitation of the Association of Lofoten Museums and the Cultural Department of the Vägan Community – July 2001, Norway;

• participation in the UNESCO Forum's VI International Seminar: Universities and Heritage in Valencia, closed by the speech of the President, Rector Justo Nieto Nieto, in which he expressed his support for the progressive, unconventional approach of the Brno UNESCO Chair for the heritage, especially the intangible one of the totalitarian past, which tends to be forgotten because humans want to forget bad memories and keep just the good ones. He proposed that this advanced concept should be given place in the Forum and incorporated in our humanistic approach to the heritage, which goes beyond man's deeds – September 2001, Spain;

• increasing the base of the Transition Project with new members from Poland, United Kingdom, Romania and some other countries;

• deepening of the earlier working contacts with Canada, Australia, Africa and Arabic countries;

• participation in the working session of the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, and discussion about their collaboration with the Transition Project of the Chair – October 2001 Italy;

• attendance at the Annual Assembly of ICOFOM-Latin America, with the conference on Museums, Museology and Heritage – December 2001 Uruguay;

• working meeting with universities and institutions in Azul, Buenos Aires and La Plata, collaborating in the Transition Project – December 2001 Argentina