We are delighted to confirm that our next conference will take place in Florence on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th March 2026. This conference will be co-organised with colleagues in the International Scientific Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM) and kindly hosted by our friends at the Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco. The conference theme will be the protection of archaeological sites, ranging from questions of reconstruction/anastylosis, to the issue of how/whether remains should be covered, to questions of interpretation, etc. The call for papers will be issued in mid-December.
Our autumn 2026 conference will take place in Łodz, Poland, in late September, and will be on the theme of the protection of historic public spaces – squares, streets and courtyards, etc. Further details will follow in 2026.
Our 26th Conference took place in Liège on 20–21 November 2025. The conference featured some 20 papers, with 40 colleagues attending in person, with many others online. Download the CONFERENCE PROGRAMME and the CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS here; video of the sessions will be posted when available.
Alongside the presentations, on the Thursday we held a roundtable discussion on the current state of conservation and the place of ICOMOS within it. We were joined by colleagues from four other heritage organisations, each of whom presented their thoughts: Julie Deschepper (Association of Critical Heritge Studies), Susan Macdonald (Getty Conservation Institute), Valérie Magar (ICCROM), and Alexandra Warr (Historic England).
Workshop on the adoption of Doctrinal Texts
On the Friday we also held a workshop to discuss the current ADCOM review of the process for the adoption of Doctrinal Texts (Articles 8-11 of Rules of Procedure). The aim of this review is to ensure that future adopted texts are of high quality, effective and of enduring relevance. We were joined virtually by two members of the task team working on the proposal – Mariana Pinto Leitao Pereira and Brandi Hall-Crossgrove – who provided an excellent introduction to the proposal. As a Committee we are preparing our considered response to the proposals.
Walking tour of Liège led by Claudine Houbart
As part of our programme, we also had an optional additional day of activities on the Wednesday – a visit to the University of Leuven archive, which holds all the papers of Raymond Lemaire, including many relating to the drafting and attempted revision of the Venice Charter. This was followed by a tour of the Grand Beguinage, which Lemaire was refurbishing at the time of the Venice Charter and the creation of ICOMOS. On the Saturday morning we were treated to a walking tour of the historic centre of Liège. Congratulations to Prof. Claudine Houbart for the excellent organisation of the event. Thanks go to the University of Liège School of Architecture for their generous hosting of the event, and to Maxime Coq for his help throughout.
