ICOMOS-UK promotes appreciation and understanding of our cultural heritage in the UK and worldwide.  Our focus is on policy and practice, information and opportunities.  Join us and support the only international multi-disciplinary professional conservation body.

ICOMOS-UK is the UK National Committee of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites).  At an international level, ICOMOS develops best practice in the conservation and management of cultural sites, and has a special role as adviser to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee  on cultural World Heritage sites.  Active in over 130 countries, it is one of the most highly regarded conservation organisations in the world.

Its wide-ranging International Scientific Committees are active in developing new thinking and practice about how to conserve, manage and promote cultural heritage across the world. ICOMOS-UK is an independent charity, set up in 1965.

We have an active membership of individuals and institutions, who come from a wide range of backgrounds in the UK and worldwide including:

• architecture
• engineering
• planning
• landscape design
• heritage and museums, including UK World Heritage Sites
• archaeology
• conservation
• universities and colleges
   

Become a Supporter

Support ICOMOS-UK as a Custodian, Benefactor or Friend

We are seeking supporters with the aim of expanding our assistance and influence in the UK Heritage Sector and continuing to represent the UK as a leading promoter of cultural heritage ideas and practices at the International level.

Increasingly cultural heritage is seen as an essential dimension of our lives and an important contributor to sustainable development. The promotion of cultural heritage is now no longer just a single discipline or related to discrete sites, but a crucial facet of many other disciplines and part of most urban and rural landscapes.

In order to develop the new opportunities by mainstreaming cultural heritage, we need to expand the range of our activities, form links with universities and other institutions, and expand our membership to work on this wider canvas.
 

St Paul's Cathedral Teaching-Learning Resource module

The Cultural Tourism Committee has designed and developed a higher education web-based learning resource focused on managing visitors' experience of sacred spaces.

Throughout the world, tourism is a vital source of income that cannot be taken for granted, and cathedrals are no exception; visitors who provide that income have rising expectations that they will be treated as individuals and their particular interests will be satisfied.

St. Paul’s Cathedral in London provides a valuable illustration of the challenge of reconciling the spiritual role of a place of worship with the management of an internationally significant attraction, the revenue from which is critical to conservation and upkeep for both.

The learning resource aims to:

• encourage informed discussion on these issues
• identify how appropriate solutions can be developed
• suggest what works well and what can be transferred

Access the learning resource here: St Paul's Cathedral Teaching-Learning Resource module

ICOMOS-UK’s response to the Government’s A303 at Stonehenge announcement

ICOMOS-UK appreciates the very real need to address the issue of the A303 at Stonehenge and welcomes the Government’s announcement to do just that.  We recognise that a tunnel could help to preserve the Outstanding Universal Value of this important World Heritage Site. 

However, we are concerned that associated portals and dual carriageways could have a significant and adverse impact on archaeology across the wider World Heritage landscape and believe that any such threat should be very carefully considered as part of a full impact assessment of the proposed project, taking account of the United Kingdom’s obligations under the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

ICOMOS-UK is aware that written questions were submitted to the House of Lords on the 23rd September 2015 about the consultation procedures for the proposed Stonehenge tunnel, and in particular about whether ICOMOS-UK had been asked for advice. We were not party to these questions but note that the written answers given on the 23rd and 25th September stress the commitment of Highways England to work “with UNESCO and its advisory bodies to ensure that the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site is taken into consideration in any forthcoming road scheme” and that “Consultation on options will take place in 2017 and will involve stakeholders, local residents, businesses, road users and interested parties”.