History

ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is the only non-governmental global organization (NGO) concerned with the protection of cultural archaeological and architectural heritage. The idea to create an international institution devoted to the preservation of historic monuments worldwide appeared for the first time at the 8th Congress of the UNESCO committee for the protection of monuments and archaeological sites, in 1961. Thereafter, the Second International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments, held in Venice in 1964, stipulated the international charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites, also known as “The Venice Charter”. ICOMOS is established as the organization whose aim is to realize the objectives dictated by the Venice Charter at international level. Finally, at the 13th UNESCO general congress, after the committee deliberated on the financial subsidy to be assigned to the new agency, ICOMOS could officially start its work in 1965. The first ICOMOS general congress opened in June 1965, in Krakow (Poland). As in May 2017, ICOMOS counts more than 153 member states, each one with its own national committee, and a team of leading-edge specialists engaged in the field of cultural heritage protection.