Brussels: Seminar on the European Christian Cultural Heritage
On Tuesday, 6 March 2018, the European Parliament in Brussels hosted a seminar on the importance for Europe to protect its Christian Cultural Heritage. The event was co-organized by the Committee of Representatives of the Orthodox Churches to the European Union (CROCEU) and the EPP Working Group on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue. It brought together MEPs and other EU officials, academics, diplomats and representatives of religious organizations in Brussels, as well as an important number of persons who have been working extensively on the protection and promotion of Christian cultural heritage throughout Europe. The event took place within the wider framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage – 2018.
The Romanian Orthodox Church was represented at this event by Mr. Ionut BURSUC, expert-manager in restoration projects. In his intervention, Mr. BURSUC made an overview of the current situation and the challenges one has to deal with in developing and implementing restoration projects, emphasising the richness and variety of the Christian cultural heritage throughout Romania. He emphasised that cultural heritage is not limited to its material elements, but equally includes the rich intangible patrimony associated with religious, such as ecclesial byzantine music or the significant social phenomenon of pilgrimages, which has once again become highly popular amongst Romanians.
Participants could also learn of the consistent efforts having been made over the past decades to protect and to save what remains of the rich Christian cultural heritage in the Northern part of Cyprus, where many sites had suffered severe damage following the Turkish invasion back in 1974.
