From interpretation to communication – The Nordic World Heritage Sites met in Finland.

Nordic cooperation is extremely important for World Heritage sites in the Nordic countries. Therefore, the annual Nordic conference is both urgent and essential for all World Heritage coordinators. This year, the Nordic conference was organized by the Association of the World Heritage sites in Finland together with the National Land Survey of Finland and Petäjävesi Old Church. A total of 140 delegates from all over the Nordics came together.

This year's theme:”From Interpretation to Communication” was the main object through the entire conference from Sari Multala’s, Minister of Science and Culture in Finland, opening speech to all the many speakers who from different points of views gave ideas and suggestions for continued important work among World Heritage Sites. The importance of interpretation and communication is central – not least when it comes to realizing the World Heritage Convention, but also to understand and realize the value of a World Heritage Site.

The Keynote speaker, Professor Mike Robinson, highlighted the art of engaging the World through relevance relationships and re-imaging communication. By drilling into the question of whether there is a difference between a cultural heritage and a World Heritage – and there is - the reasoning focused on the actual difference and that there is a before and an after a UNESCO designation.

At each annual Nordic conference, the Nordic World Heritage Prize;”The Rauma Award”, is also awarded out to a organizations or Nordic World Heritage Site stakeholder who has excelled in community involvement and participation. This year the award was handed over to The Ehrensvärd Society, which has been working in the Suomenlinna World Heritage Site in Finland for 25 years with the Suomenlinna Adventure Tour for Children with the motivation:

The Ehrensvärd Society was founded in 1921 and is a key stakeholder in interpreting the Outstanding Universal Value of the Suomenlinna fortress with the management authorities and has had a long standing commitment to inform the public about the Suomenlinna fortress and its history. The Ehrensvärd Society has provided the Adventure tours for Children for 25 years at the fortress where the OUV is explained for various age groups with learning by doing method. The mix of theater professionals, historians, and service providers along with the drama and costumes makes for a unique way of interpreting the OUV of the Suomenlinna fortress. Over the last 25 years more than 170,000 school children have participated in the long-standing cooperation and they also provide the tours free of charge for the local schools and kindergarten. The Ehrensvärd Society finances its activities by running different commercial services and provides visitor services to the public all year round.

Nordic cooperation and the Nordic conference are very important for the World Heritage Sites. In addition to conference program, visits to the actual World Heritage Sites are always on the schedule. This time the delegates got to visit three World Heritage Sites; Verla World Heritage Site, Oravivuori Measurement Point of the World Heritage Site Struve Geodetic Arc and World Heritage Site Petäjävesi Old Church.

Next year's Nordic conference will be held in Denmark organized by the two World Heritage Sites Stevns Klint together with Trelleborg, as part of the Viking-Age Ring Fortresses.