Opening of the exhibition "Best Practices for the Safeguarding of Underwater Cultural Heritage"

The exhibition on "Best Practices for the Safeguarding of Underwater Cultural Heritage" was opened yesterday at the Education and presentation centre for underwater archaeology St. Nicholas.

In their opening speeches, the Director of the Centre Mladen Pešić, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Croatia to the Kingdom of Spain Nives Malenica, representative of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Kingdom of Spain Carmen Cabrera, and the representative of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media Zoran Wiewegh, chief conservator in the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural of heritage, addressed the attendees.

The exhibition is a project of cooperation between the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena (ARQUA) and the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar (ICUA Zadar), realized on the basis of the Memorandum of cooperation in the field of protection and preservation of underwater cultural heritage, which the Centre signed with the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Kingdom of Spain in July 2023 in Madrid.

The exhibition also represents the first joint effort following the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation in Madrid, said the Ambassador Malenica. ''It was an achievement in which the Embassy and I had the privilege of contributing with enthusiasm as well as professional conviction that the excellence of our International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar will find its best interlocutors and fruitful cooperation in Spanish institutions and their rich cultural and archaeological heritage'', added the Ambassador Malenica. ''With the Memorandum and today's action, we are expanding cooperation between our two countries, which still have much to learn about each other, but share a lot in common.''

The protection of underwater cultural heritage is one of the priorities for ICUA Zadar and ARQUA within the framework of the 2001 Convention of UNESCO for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. One of the mechanisms that this Convention has developed is the "Best Practice" acknowledgments to projects related to protection and promotion of underwater cultural heritage. Examples of best practices are considered to be those initiatives undertaken in an appropriate manner and in line with the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Archaeological Heritage, which provides the public at large an opening to access underwater cultural heritage.

There are a total of 13 examples that bear the title of Best Practices, and Spain, as a member state to the Convention, boasts the highest number in underwater cultural heritage, these being the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology (ARQUA), Andalusia's underwater archaeological heritage, Cap del Vol and Cala Cativa shipwrecks in Catalonia, Deltebre I wreck, Bou Ferrer wreck in Villajoyosa in Alicante province, and Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes Project.

The aim of this temporary exhibition is to present UNESCO examples of best practices in underwater cultural heritage from Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Mexico and Croatia, replicas of the most interesting finds from Spain and Croatia together with video material.

After the Croatian System for the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage at the locations of Velika shallows near Cavtat, Letavica and Baron Gautsch was approved and entered into the UNESCO register of best practices in underwater cultural heritage in June 2023, the intention of this joint project is to further promote the protection of cultural and natural heritage for future generations.

The temporary exhibition is jointly organized by ICUA Zadar, ARQUA, Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Kingdom of Spain, Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the Kingdom of Spain and a public consortium Casa Mediterráneo.