DUSHANBE, October 23, 2015, Asia-Plus — His Highness the Aga Khan, yesterday hailed restoration and preservation of cultural heritage as “a development resource of immense, potential value” in the overall improvement of the quality of human life.
Press release issued by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) notes that in a keynote address to a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the Aga Khan joined Patron of ICOMOS UK, the Duke of Gloucester, and other high level speakers in emphasizing the importance of cultural restoration in human development.
He praised ICOMOS” work, arguing that cultural projects are a powerful engine of human development rather than a diversion from development priorities. “This potential was often ignored,” he said, “as culture was too easily labeled as a luxury amid pressing social and economic needs.”
The Spiritual Leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder and Chairman of AKDN cited numerous examples of cultural projects undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, from Mali to Egypt to Afghanistan to India to Pakistan where cultural restoration work, accompanied by other development activities, brought jobs, literacy and economic prospects to impoverished and marginalized communities.
The Aga Khan emphasized the importance of an integrated, multi-sector approach to cultural heritage, the need to form private public partnerships and the necessity to obtain the support and engagement of local communities.
He noted that the success of cultural projects in the developed world and the developing world alike, requires a variety of actors- animated by a robust spirit of cooperation – and an overriding ”ethic of partnership.” He cited the example of the work of the Chantilly Foundation in which valuable experience gathered in the developing world was successfully used to restore the cultural assets of a historic town in northern France to their former glory.
