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Tatra Museum hosts meeting to valorize mountain museums and cultural heritage

21.06.2022

Mountain museum representatives from ten countries met in Zakopane, Poland on 9-11 June 2022 for the first international Mountain Panorama conference to exchange experiences of mountain museums and celebrate the cultural heritage of mountain areas.

Mountains play an essential role in all areas of life on Earth – from hosting important biodiversity, to being the home of rich traditions and cultures. They are also the home of countless plant and animal species as well as over a billion people globally and provide important ecosystem services. Because of this, mountains hold significant cultural value for local communities.

The conference discussed the valorization and conservation of mountains’ immense tangible and intangible heritage, to provide a panorama of mountain areas. It was curated by Aldo Audisio, International Projects Expert and former director of the National Mountain Museum of Turin; Rosalaura Romeo, Programme Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat at the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations (FAO); and Anna Wende-Surmiak, Director of the Tatra Museum and coordinator of the Mountain Panorama conference.

"Mountains are centres of cultural diversity and heritage, and museums in mountains can help bridge tradition with innovation while promoting tourism," said Rosalaura Romeo.

The outcomes of Mountain Panorama will be published in a post-conference publication. The conference was organized by the Tatra Museum, in association with the Mountain Partnership and the International Mountain Museums Alliance (IMMA), within the framework of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022.

International Mountain Museum Alliance

Mountain Panorama was preceded by the annual assembly of the IMMA. The Alliance was launched in 2015 at FAO under the auspices of the Mountain Partnership during International Mountain Day. This free association among alpine and mountain museums aims to define a network of collaborations between mountain museums to link together the cultural activities of the world’s mountains.

Representing the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Tatra Mountains and the Canadian Rockies, the museums forming the alliance include the Tatra Museum of Zakopane (Poland), the National Mountain Museum of Turin (Italy), the Alpine Museum in Chamonix (France), the General Mountain Information Service of Sabadell (Spain) and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff (Canada), with guests including the Basque Mountaineering Museum (Spain) and the Swiss Alpine Museum of Bern (Switzerland).

The IMMA members confirmed Daniela Berta, Director of the National Mountain Museum of Turin, in the role of coordinator, and elected Carles Capellas of the General Mountain Information Service as the new president, thanking Anna Wende-Surmiak of the Tatra Museum for her two presidential terms.