'Trinity College Centre to Host UNESCO Round Table on Hill of Tara / M3 motorway'

international | history and heritage | press release Monday July 21, 2008 14:28 by TaraWatch info at tarawatch dot org

The first event of its kind in Ireland

Mr Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) proposed yesterday that a workshop on the Hill of Tara cultural landscape would take place. He made the proposal in discussions with TaraWatch at the closing of the 32nd Session of the World Heritage Committee, in Quebec, last week

PRESS RELEASE

TARAWATCH.org

21 July 2008

'Trinity College Centre to Host UNESCO Round Table on Hill of Tara / M3 motorway'

The Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, at Trinity College Dublin, will host a prestigeous UNESCO workshop, concerning the Hill of Tara and the M3 motorway.

The round table type workshop was proposed by Mr Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), during the recent World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec.

The proposal was made in response to a request by TaraWatch that UNESCO address the proposal by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, to make Tara a World Heritage Site.

The workshop format will involve a series of presentations from various local, national and international bodies, over a number of days. Invited bodies include:

- The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
- The Department of Transport
- The National Roads Authority
- The National Museum
- The Heritage Council
- The International Council on Monunments and Sites
- World Monuments Fund
- Sacred Sites International
- Archaeological Institute of America
- World Archaeological Congress
- Meath Archaeological and Historical Society

The impact on the integrity of Tara cultural landscape by the proposed M3 motorway will form a part of the workshop. The date and time will be announced shortly.

The Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies was formally founded in the spring of 1999 with two major aims: to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars working in the early fields both within and outside Trinity; to promote Medieval and Renaissance studies at a national and an international level.

Dr Sarah Alyn Stacey of the TCD Centre said:

"We have campaigned vigorously for the presevation of Tara for the past number of years, and are delighted that UNESCO will finally address this issue.

"This will be the first such worshop to take place in Ireland, and we hope that all of the stakeholders, including the Minister for the Environment, will participate.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:

"We are putting all of our hopes in the hands of UNESCO now.

"The M3 is still two years away from completion, and we still hope that a compromise can be reached, which will preserve the complex, and deliver the road.

ENDS

http://www.tcd.ie/Medieval_Renaissance/