From 25 to 29 May 2025, the Austrian capital Vienna hosted an international conference on Education and Training for the ICOMOS Expert of the Future, as well as a working meeting of the presidents and bureau members of the ICOMOS Europe group. The event was dedicated to the memory of Raymond Lemaire, co-founder of ICOMOS, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of this leading international organisation which operates under the auspices of UNESCO.
Ukraine was represented at this conference by two researchers from the Institute of Architecture and Design, Lviv Polytechnic National University: Oresta Remeshylo-Rybchynska, Professor at the Department of Design and Architecture Fundamentals (DAF), member of the Bureau of the Ukrainian National Committee of ICOMOS, and Vasyl Petryk, Associate Professor at the DAF Department, member of ICOMOS. Both experts have extensive experience in the field of preservation, revitalisation and revalorisation of cultural heritage, both in practice and in teaching.
During the informal communication, the conference participants were actively interested in the state of preservation of Ukrainian monuments during the full-scale war, the activities of higher education institutions and opportunities for cooperation. In particular, they discussed the creation of joint educational programmes, international projects and summer schools in relatively safe regions of Ukraine, such as Drohobych, Zhovkva and Pidhirtsi.
A special event at the conference was the commemoration of Raymond Lemaire (1921–1997), a Belgian historian of art and architecture, one of the authors of the Venice Charter (1964), founder of ICOMOS (together with Piero Gazzola), the first Secretary General and later President of this organisation. Lemaire has been an advisor to the Council of Europe, the EU and UNESCO, and has led numerous restoration projects around the world: from the Acropolis to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the monuments of Jerusalem.
The conference was opened by the current president of ICOMOS, Teresa Patricio, a former Lemaire’s student. In 2022, shortly after the outbreak of the full-scale war, she visited Ukraine together with representatives of ICCROM and the ALIPH Foundation. Lviv Polytechnic hosted a meeting of international delegations with Ukrainian colleagues in the Zachariewicz Hall.
In total, more than 25 reports were presented. Among the speakers there were ICOMOS Vice President Riin Alatalu, Caroline Jager-Klein (President of ICOMOS Austria), Peter Maringer and Petra Weiss (Federal Institute for Monument Protection), presidents of ICOMOS national committees from Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, France, Spain, Israel, Germany, Albania, Azerbaijan and others. Delegations from Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia, Denmark and Turkey also took part in the discussions.
