Press releases

MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) – Information on the Belarusian sites of historical and cultural value is added to the database of the Council of Europe system Herein, BelTA learned from Natalia Khvir, the head of the historical and cultural heritage protection office of the department for historical and cultural heritage protection at the Belarusian Culture Ministry.

Information is available online on the official site of the Council of Europe in English. The Culture Ministry jointly with its subordinate organizations are national coordinators that add new content to Belarus’ profile, update information.

The information is collected on the Council of Europe site as part of the Compendium program. According to Natalia Khvir, the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe is a unique reference work on European cultural policies and an online information and monitoring system. It is regularly updated and each year a new edition of the Compendium system is published. The Compendium was initiated by the Council of Europe as a joint venture with the ERICarts Institute in 1998. It is implemented in partnership with national governments and a network of leading European cultural policy experts, said Natalia Khvir.

The Compendium addresses issues of priority and current challenges to policy concerning cultural rights and ethics, cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, the role of different partners in a changing system of governance, support to creativity participation in cultural life, economic, legal and educational dimensions of cultural policies and international cultural cooperation. The system monitors the implementation and introduction of cultural legislation and policies, as well as cultural practices.

At a recent meeting between coordinator of the Compendium project, head of the Directorate of Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Council of Europe Kathrin Merkle and representatives of cultural establishments in Minsk the parties considered issues of cooperation in operational updating of cultural information in the information database of the Council of Europe program Compendium.