The safeguarding and enhancement of our maritime cultural heritage, which has always been our main concern, has been in the spotlight recently at the One Ocean Summit in Brest, France in February 2022.

This theme was the subject of a major international forum, “Ocean, One Cultural Heritage” hosted by the Musée National de la Marine during the Summit. ICMM President Matthew Tanner had the pleasure of speaking at the forum, alongside National Maritime Museum (UK) Director Paddy Rodgers and Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums Director Lars Amreus. The success of this forum, both at the level of high political authorities and the public, will be echoed at the next major international event dedicated to the preservation of the oceans, the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), which takes place at the end of June 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal.

In order to continue this momentum, and with the endorsement of ICMM, the Musée National de la Marine has drawn up a Manifesto, intended to bring together the major players in maritime cultural heritage around the world. The Manifesto has been co-signed by ICMM President Matthew Tanner and Vincent Campredon, Director of the Musée National de la Marine, and we encourage all ICMM members to sign it too.

This international mobilization is an opportunity to highlight how maritime cultural heritage can help us to understand the challenges facing our blue planet and to pass on this message to as many people as possible.

This major and unprecedented international mobilization is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to highlight the essential nature of our maritime cultural heritage in order to understand the challenges facing our blue planet and to pass on this message to as many people as possible.

If you would like to sign the Manifesto on behalf of your institution, please email Lucie Badin at l.badin@musee-marine.fr. Your name and position will then appear on the Manifesto (no need for an electronic signature) alongside other maritime museums and organisations which have already responded to the call.

The signed document will be distributed within the framework of the Lisbon Conference. We hope you will support this initiative, and that perhaps we will see some of you in Lisbon in June.

Read the Manifesto

Read the letter urging ICMM colleagues to sign the Manifesto from Matthew Tanner and Vincent Campredon (in English & Français).

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