Heritage Month began in 1997 as a proposal of the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate of Heritage, in order to open a space to reflect on the importance to safeguard, preserve, protect and promote the cultural wealth of Colombia.
Cultural heritage is related to the cultural values of the community y transmits the values of traditions, beliefs and spaces of a country and its people.
"The Ministry of Culture and all Colombians in general must work to establish a comprehensive and unifying vision that recognizes the contribution of individuals to value and protect our cultural heritage," said Alberto Escovar Wilson-White, director of Heritage at the Ministry of Culture.
The central activity of the Heritage Month will be the 'Sixth National Meeting of Heritage: Sites of Memory', which provides an authentic reflection on the neglect and decay faced by cultural heritage and the need to build new paradigms to value this heritage "This meeting will allow us to travel through Colombia and the world through memory. We will recognize common experiences, from working together, and will revive and give meaning to spaces, buildings and cultural expressions, "said the director of the Ministry of Culture Heritage.
The VI National Meeting of Heritage, to be held in Bogotá between 9 and 11 September, will take place in the St. George Theatre that between the 1940s and 1960s was one of the most important buildings in the Colombian capital and which is currently in ruins. "The meeting is the perfect excuse to give life back to this place which is very important for the memory of the citizen," says Escovar.
The sixth edition of the National Meeting of Heritage will nourish experiences of different geographical areas of Colombia, experiences of relevant recovery and preservation of memory and meaning for the communities. Striking examples of experiences carried out in indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, with victims of violence as well as with property declared as National Cultural Interest, as well as experiences from countries as distant as China, France and Spain.