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Norway’s World Heritage launches “World Heirs” to engage youth in preservation of UNESCO listed sites

Sunday 14th 2024 on 16:08 in  
Norway

Norway’s World Heritage is launching a new trainee program, “World Heirs,” to encourage young people to take ownership of the country’s eight sites listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The program, which received nearly 150 applications but accepted only 14, offers young people aged between 19 and 25 the chance to explore and understand our shared cultural heritage.

The trainees will spend time exploring the Rock Art of Alta, Struve Geodetic Arc, and Bryggen in Bergen. World Heritage Coordinator Hege Bakke-Alisøy emphasises that working with world heritage can be a career path, and the program aims to encourage young people to pursue education that can strengthen our world heritage.

Lillian Time, an archaeology student who grew up in Voss in Vestland, is one of the program participants. She spent the last few weeks at Bryggen in Bergen, observing how different stakeholders operate there. The knowledge among young people about world heritage varies, and many are not aware of its significance.

In Norway, we have eight places on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, most of them in Vestland. The loss of these sites would be a loss for humanity, emphasizes the United Nations. To prevent this, the new generation needs to care about them.

One of the program’s tasks is to identify challenges at Bryggen and find solutions to promote stronger local ownership. Time proposes turning Bryggen in Bergen into a social hub for students, a group that currently visits Bryggen the least. She believes that by attracting students to Bryggen, they will become interested in the site in a different way. Ideas include art exhibitions, theatre performances, outdoor activities, live podcast recordings, intimate concerts, and flea markets in the backyard. These suggestions have the support of the World Heritage Coordinator.