Tamás Fejérdy: Resilience is the Hidden Power of Cultural Heritage

Tamás Fejérdy gave a lecture about built cultural heritage and emphasised that it always has its intangible dimension. He said that continuity of traditions is just as important as tangible materials to ensure the preservation of cultural identity. He also stressed that it is crucial to embody different identities of minorities and capture and preserve inevitable changes that are a part of human lives.
Tamás Fejérdy is a Hungarian architect. He is a lecturer at several universities in Hungary, where he teaches, among other things, about World Heritage and the legal and institutional protection of cultural heritage. A member of ICOMOS since 1983, he was vice-president between 2005 and 2008. He was also head of the International Committee of Historic Towns and Villages (CIVVIH) from 1992 to 2002. He led several evaluation missions for sites nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List (Kutna Hora, Weimar, Graz, Kazan, Gjirocastra). He acts as Professor in the Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development Postgraduate Programme (ISES Foundation, Kőszeg, Hungary) and in other courses. He has also been a member of working groups of the Council of Europe; participant of Nara International Conferences (1994, 2004); Chairperson of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (2002/2003); member of the Council of Europa Nostra; developed considerable professional expertise in connection with World Heritage nominations and reactive monitoring missions.