Torrential rains have led to devastating floods in the Henan province and its capital city, Zhengzhou in the People’s Republic of China. The Director-General and staff of ICCROM extend their deepest condolences to the Government and People of China for the loss of lives and the extensive damage caused as a result.

Whether or not you consider these to be examples of ‘heritage’, and therefore digital heritage’, depends on if you think they have shared value for both present and future generations, and then decide to preserve them for future use, enjoyment, and learning opportunities. These examples show how much our digital environment has changed since 2003, when UNESCO adopted the Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage, and its 193 member states agreed to guard against the loss of unique digital resources to protect humanity’s common heritage. We have developed and adopted new technologies, the internet has penetrated more of the world’s population, and increasingly more realms of daily life have become digitized. All of this raises the importance of sustaining our digital heritage today.

The fourth edition of the World Heritage Site Managers’ Forum hosted by the People’s Republic of China was held online from 7 to 13 July 2021, in conjunction with the extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting. This year the Forum hosted 90 site managers and coordinators representing 82 World Heritage properties from 48 countries worldwide. The IUCN-ICCROM World Heritage Leadership programme organized the Forum jointly with the People’s Republic of China, the World Heritage Centre, and in collaboration with ICOMOS.

Heritage can represent a valuable resource for living together peacefully and building prosperous, sustainable futures. However, it can also find itself in the midst of serious conflicts. As such, the role of heritage in the pursuit of peace requires careful consideration.

In view of the flooding that is devastating north-western Europe, the Director-General and staff of ICCROM wish to extend their condolences to the governments and people of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Austria.

On Friday 2 July 2021, Director-General Webber Ndoro was honoured to meet with H.E. Al-Dafar Al-Hamdani, Minister of Culture in Iraq, and Mr Zaid Al-Ani, First Secretary of the Embassy of Iraq in Rome. Zaki Aslan, Director, ICCROM-Sharjah Regional Office and Rohit Jigyasu, Project Manager, Programmes Unit, also attended online and in person, respectively.

ICCROM today welcomed the Executive Director of the ALIPH Foundation, Valéry Freeland, to our headquarters in Rome, accompanied by Andrea Balbo, ALIPH Project Manager. They met with Director-General Webber Ndoro, Valerie Magar, Unit Manager, Programmes, and Yasmin Hashem, FAR Programme Assistant.

The renowned Finnish architect and urban planner is a leading mind in heritage conservation and theory. He sat down with ICCROM’s Rohit Jigyasu for a thought-provoking discussion revolving around the universal nature of conservation philosophy and how it relates to diverse cultural expressions.

ICCROM is very pleased to announce the launch of the Mora Samples Collection catalogue as an open access research resource. The Mora samples collection is an extraordinary scientific scholarly resource comprising over 1 200 material samples that bears witness to the complexity and diversity of wall painting as a medium for cultural expression across different civilizations and time periods.

Catherine Antomarchi was awarded the prestigious ICOM-CC medal for her contribution to the conservation of cultural property, at the nineteenth ICOM-CC Virtual Triennial Conference hosted in Beijing in May 2021. For more than 35 years, until her departure in 2019, Catherine was a pivotal member of the ICCROM team, spearheading the development and delivery of innovative courses and educational tools.