Birgitta Ringbeck
The World Heritage Convention is based on the concept of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) meaning according to § 49 of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention: a “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity.”[1] But only 33 years after the General Assembly adopted the World Heritage Convention, the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (SOUV) was included for the first time in the 2005 Operational Guidelines and has become operational since 2007. While the draft version is the mission statement for the preparation of a World Heritage nomination, the final version approved by the World Heritage Committee is the central reference document for justifying inscription and assessing developments, risks and threats following recognition as a World Heritage property. A SOUV provides a clear, shared understanding of the reasons for inscription and of what needs managing in order to sustain the Outstanding Universal Value for the long-term. The concept of OUV will be explained using successful examples and a proposal for a draft SOUV of selected examples from Mendelsohn´s œuvre.
[1] https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/
Birgitta Ringbeck, Dr., Ministerial Advisor (retired), was from 2002 to 2022 the commissioner of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany and from 2012 to 2022 also head of the World Heritage coordinating body, based in the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. From 2012 to 2015, she was member in the German Delegation to UNESCO´s World Heritage Committee. She studied art history, archaeology and ethnology in Münster, Bonn and Rome and began her career at the Regional Association of Westphalia Lippe, working on the research project History of Traditional Architecture in the Beginning of the 20th Century. From 1990 to 1997, she was Head of Department of Preservation of Regional Traditions and Culture at the NRW-Stiftung, a foundation for the protection of nature, regional traditions and culture in Düsseldorf/Germany. Between March 1997 and December 2011 she was the director of the Supreme Authority for the Protection and Conservation of Monuments at the Ministry of Construction and Transport of the Land North Rhine-Westphalia. Ringbeck is the chair of the board of trustees of the German World Heritage Foundation and member of ICOMOS, ICOM and TICCIH. Her primary fields of expertise are monument preservation, industrial heritage, World Heritage nominations and World Heritage management.