The 'International Council on Monuments and Sites' (ICOMOS) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. ICOMOS was founded in
1965 as a result of the
Venice Charter of
1964 and offers advice to
UNESCO on
World Heritage Sites.
The idea behind ICOMOS dates to the Athens Conference on the restoration of historic buildings in 1931, organized by the International Museums Office. The
Athens Charter of 1933, drafted by
Le Corbusier at the fourth Assembly of the International Congresses on Modern Architecture, introduced the concept of international heritage. In 1964, the Second Congress of Architects and Specialists of Historic Buildings, meeting in
Venice, adopted 13 resolutions. The first created the International Charter on the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, better known as
Venice Charter; the second, put forward by
UNESCO, created ICOMOS to carry out this charter.
ICOMOS currently has over 7500 members. With rare exceptions, each member must be qualified in the field of conservation, and a practicing landscape architect, architect, archaeologist, town planner, engineer, administrator of heritage, art historian or archivist. Its international headquarters are in
Paris. The UK headquarters of ICOMOS are in
London. The Australian branch was formed in 1976.
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External links
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ICOMOS
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ICOMOS-UK
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Australia ICOMOS
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US-ICOMOS