ISC20C History

Timeline of Development and Activity of the ICOMOS ISC20C

Author: Sheridan Burke, August 2021

Context: Modern Heritage and Conservation Timeline and Documentation

1980 - 1989

The ICOMOS network engages with Twentieth Century heritage places through national conferences, risk responses and world heritage nominations.

1990

Docomomo established in the Netherlands to draw attention to the plight of the pioneering early modern buildings which were decaying for lack of a current use,

Council of Europe Recommendation on the Protection of the Twentieth-Century Architectural Heritage… that the governments of the member states develop strategies for the identification, study, protection, conservation, restoration and public awareness of twentieth-century architecture

1992

C20 Society formed in Britain (from The Thirties Society, established 1979) as a charity campaigning for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onward

1994

Experts Meeting World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS in June 1994 on the Global Strategy "to move away from a purely architectural view of cultural heritage towards one which was more anthropological, multifunctional and universal"

1995

Conference on "Preserving the Recent Past " in Chicago co-hosted by the Historic Preservation Education Foundation and the National Park Service, April, the first national conference to examine the evaluation and preservation of C20th resources.

ICOMOS Seminar on 20th-century Heritage in Helsinki June 1995. ICOMOS Finland, UNESCO/World Heritage Centre and of ICCROM

1996

ICOMOS Seminar of Experts on 20th Heritage, 10-13 June 1996, Mexico City, Mexico explored and deepens the perspectives and the contribution of America -The United States, Canada, The Caribbean and Latin America.

1997

ICOMOS commissions Docomomo to report on the Modern Movement and the World Heritage List testing & application of WHL criteria to buildings and sites of the Modern Movement. Report identifies 4 architects oeuvres and a worldwide selection of about 20 modern buildings, sites or ensembles that may be of "outstanding universal value".

2000

ICOMOS initiates the Montreal Action Plan 20 (MAP20) with US ICOMOS - a survey to assess C20 identification and management from the worldwide network of ICOMOS National and International Scientific Committees. Project concluded 2003, survey unpublished.
Docomomo publishes a selection of its register fiches following an international survey as The Modern Movement in Architecture: Selections from the Docomomo Registers
Preserving the Recent Past 2 conference, Philadelphia

2001 - 2005

UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre with ICOMOS and Docomomo launch a joint program for the identification, documentation and promotion of the built heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries, publishing Identification and Documentation of Modern Heritage, (World Heritage Papers No 5) Regional meetings held in 2002 in Monterrey (Mexico); in 2003 in Chandigarh (India); in 2004 in Asmara (Eritrea) and in Miami Beach and Coral Gables, USA; in 2005 in Alexandrina in Egypt.

2002

The Istanbul Declaration signed by the European Committees of ICOMOS and Docomomo, confirming regional co-operation

2005

The ICOMOS report “The World Heritage List: Filling the Gaps”, highlighted the inadequate representation of modern heritage on the World Heritage list—only a dozen of the over 700 places then listed were identified as modern heritage

2006

International Conference Heritage at Risk − Preservation of 20^th-Century Architecture and World Heritage Moscow Declaration issued by ISC20C with UIA and Docomomo

2007

UIA XXth Century Architectural Heritage Register in development

2009

“Unloved Modern” Australia ICOMOS conference, Sydney

2011

Getty Conservation Institute holds an international colloquium Developing an Historic Thematic Framework to Assess the Significance of Twentieth-Century Cultural Heritage
"The Dublin Principles" adopted by ICOMOS and TICCIH. Joint ICOMOS – TICCIH Principles for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Sites, Structures, Areas and Landscapes to be promoted and used to assist in the documentation, protection, conservation and appreciation of industrial heritage.

2012

The Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (CMAI) program of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) launched to advance the practice of conserving twentieth-century heritage, with a focus on modern architecture, through research and investigation, the development of practical conservation solutions, and the creation and distribution of information through training programs and publications

2013

Getty Foundation initiates the Keeping it Modern program , an international grant initiative for the architectural conservation of important buildings of the 20th century
Getty Conservation Institute experts meeting in Los Angeles to examine the situation of modern heritage. Colloquium to Advance the Practice of Conserving Modern Heritage

2017

ISC20C finalizes the revision of the Madrid Document and publishes its replacement- the Madrid New Delhi Document: Approaches to the Conservation of Twentieth Century Cultural Heritage at the 19th General Assembly of ICOMOS in New Delhi resolved to “Endorse and promote the use and distribution of the 2017 Approaches for the Conservation of Twentieth-Century Heritage by ICOMOS National and International Scientific Committees, as a fundamental international document to guide the conservation of all Twentieth-century heritage sites and places”.
World Heritage and Modern Heritage World Heritage # 85, published by World Heritage Centre UNESCO