ICOMOS Belgium-Belgique-België International Council on
Monuments and Sites
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ICOMOS Belgium-Belgique-België

History

The Belgian Committee of ICOMOS was established in 1965, under the instigation of Professor Raymond LEMAIRE, one of the drafters of the Venice Charter and one of the founders of ICOMOS International. In 1978, two language sections were created: ICOMOS Vlaanderen-Brussel (for Flemish-speaking) and ICOMOS Wallonie-Bruxelles (for French-speaking). In September 1995, ICOMOS Belgium was founded as an association of two non-profit organisations, ICOMOS Vlaanderen-Brussel (legal person created in 1992) and ICOMOS Wallonie-Bruxelles (legal person created in 1995).

Since the beginning, the Belgian Committee of ICOMOS highly profiled on international level. It co-orginased three colloquia on stone degradation (1966, 1967 and 1968) and a colloquium on the 'Documentation Centre' of ICOMOS (1966), all in Brussels. As a result of the last mentioned colloquium, the Documentation Centre was founded in Paris. Several members were also instrumental in the founding of scientific committees including : 'Stone' (René SNEYERS), 'Historical Gardens and Cultural Landscapes' (René PECHERE), 'Cultural Tourism' (Arthur HAULOT), ‘Economy in Conservation’ (Christian OST) and‘ISCARSAH’ (Koen VAN BALEN). The Belgian Committee made financial contributoin to the founding of the prize Gazzola, first granted to Jean Troufelot in 1981.

In 1967, the the international scientific journal Monumentum was established thansk to the financial contributions of ICOMOS and the Belgian Ministery of Culture. Both direction board and editorial staff were mainly staffed with Belgian members.

Raymond Lemaire was president of the Belgian Committee up to 1978, when the French-speaking and Dutch speaking subcommittees were founded. From that year up to 1995, the Belgiam committee was presided by Andries VAN DEN ABEELE. Since 1995, the Belgian Committee is organised by a convention between the two subcommittees, with last actualisation in 2006.

ICOMOS Belgium is since then represented by the 18 Board Members of each of the two sections. Every three years, in parallel with the elections of ICOMOS at the international level, the Presidency of the Belgian Committee is alternately assumed for three years by the President of one of the two sections, that of the other section assuming the Vice-Presidency.

From 1965 to 1995, Marie-Jeanne GEERTS was responsible for the secretariat of the Belgian comittee. She also was the secretary of Raymond Lemaire in the ‘Centre d’études pour la conservation du patrimoine architectural et urbain’, later ‘Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC). She established contacts between the national committee and the international secrerariat. From 1995 to 2003 the King Baudouin Foundation attended to the secretariat of the Belgian committee. Since 2003, the section that presides the Belgian committee takes care of secretariat.

Since 1995, the presidents of the Belgian committee were: