Europa Nostra

Europa Nostra, (Latin for Our Europe) the pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage, represents a rapidly growing citizens’ movement for safeguarding Europe’s cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement to relevant international bodies, in particular the European Union, the Council of Europe and UNESCO. It has consultative status with UNESCOand is recognised as an NGO partner.

Europa Nostra's network covers almost 50 countries across Europe and beyond. It is composed of over 250 member organisations (heritage associations and foundations with a combined membership of more than 5 million people), 150 associated organisations (governmental bodies, local authorities and corporations) and also 1500 individual members who directly support the mission of Europa Nostra.

Europa Nostra's main goal is to place heritage and its benefits in the mainstream of public consciousness and to make heritage a higher priority for public policy both at European and national levels. Its specific objectives are to promote, at a European level, high standards of quality in the fields of heritage conservation, architecture, urban and rural planning and to advocate a balanced and sustainable development of urban and rural, built and natural environment. Europa Nostra also seeks to highlight the importance of cultural heritage as a building block of European identity and as contributiing to a strengthening sense of European citizenship.

Europa Nostra was founded in 1963 on the initiative of Italia Nostra, as a response to the serious threat to the survival of Venice, caused by regular flooding. In 1991 it merged with the Internationales Burgen Institut (the International Castles Institute), itself created in 1949.

Today, Europa Nostra is presided over by world-renowned opera singer, Maestro Plácido Domingo (Spain) and its Executive President is Denis de Kergorlay (France). Previous presidents have been HRH the Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón from Spain (2007-2009), HRH the Prince Consort of Denmark (1990-2007) and Hans de Koster from the Netherlands (1984 – 1990).

Its activities are coordinated by an International Secretariat based in The Hague (Netherlands) headed by Europa Nostra’s Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović (Netherlands/Serbia). In several countries, the International Secretariat is assisted in its tasks by country representations.

Europa Nostra’s main activities are:

1. to act as a representative lobby for cultural heritage in Europe;
2. to celebrate and promote excellence through the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards;
3. to save Europe’s historic monuments, sites and cultural landscapes which are in danger, and
4. to animate a network of cultural heritage stakeholders in Europe.