Africa-Press – Seychelles. The stones tell the story…
The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), through its Cultural and Creative Industries (ICC) project funded by the French Development Agency, has organized practical and technical training on heritage. These training sessions, which brought together officials from the administrations responsible for heritage, were held in Mauritius, the Comoros and Madagascar.
What is cultural heritage?
Our cultural heritage bears witness to the evolution of our societies over the centuries. Our region, Indianoceania, has its own cultural wealth which gives it a unique identity.
Whether it is monuments, museums, traditions, dances or the arts, our heritage is a reflection of our history and its enhancement is also a means of strengthening social cohesion. Indeed, we bring people together around a shared sense of belonging (cultural festivals, traditional celebrations…).
Focus on architectural heritage
The architectural heritage is one of the strong heritages, left by our ancestors. It represents much more than old buildings or structures. Indeed, each building tells a unique story. We guess there know-how, trades, techniques and cultural influences.
By promoting our architectural heritage, we maintain the link with our past and our cultural identity.
The IOC ICC project and architectural heritageTo date, the IOC, through its ICC project, has organized three national field trainings on the preservation of our architectural heritage. They were facilitated by Christophe Graz expert Hydea and the network of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). These trainings were organized by HYDEA, a consulting firm specialized in the field of cultural heritage, leader of the technical assistance of the ICC project of the IOC.
For these trainings, the speakers mainly favored actions on the ground in order to confront concrete and real situations. These activities provided an opportunity to interact with experienced professionals and gain more concrete perspectives on the challenges of architectural heritage preservation in Indianoceania.
So far trainings have taken place in Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius.
The training on traditional architectures makes it possible to complete the cartography of the built heritage of Indianoceania through a dedicated digital tool. This tool makes it possible to identify a whole set of useful data for conservation and even more the constitution of files for the classification of buildings, in particular with Unesco. These first training sessions will also allow the countries (Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and Union of the Comoros) to feed the digital tool developed for the inventory of traditional architectures.For Juliette Janin, project manager responsible for cultural projects at the IOC: “Heritage is one of the most solid bases of cultural tourism, which can generate significant economic income for countries. In addition, local materials and traditional know-how also respond to the climate challenges our islands are currently facing.”
For More News And Analysis About Seychelles Follow Africa-Press
