The event that is a true PROFESSIONAL MEETING PLACE and a place of a shared quality achievement

- Meeting of museum and heritage professionals with various experts we cannot do without (architects, designers, consultants, information specialists, suppliers, tourism experts, media people etc.);
- Meeting of institutions and professionals from a broad range of practice and interest in the field of heritage to provide practical inspiration and create a rich mutual learning environment;
- Meeting of experienced veterans and ambitious, creative newcomers from the converging variety of professions in the field of heritage, all in the context of the information society;
- Meeting of minds and cultures: Dubrovnik has been, throughout its rich history, a geographical point where Mediterranean meets Central Europe, where West meets East, where North meets South. ...
The widening profession needs quality information; there are, annually, some fifty awarded, new or renewed institutions world-wide and a great number of exceptional projects hardly known to the international professional public. All of them deserve further professional and public attention. We find that all those who achieved quality and gained recognition may profit from our invitation to present themselves annually to the international community of professionals.
The financial help from the Ministry of Culture of Croatia demonstrates official recognition of the manifestation. The very successful five annual editions of the event confirm the new innovative tradition of the vast field of museums, heritage and conservation. The City of Dubrovnik is sensitive to heritage and recognized the event by its high patronage. It is however the patronage of the world's museum organisation (ICOM), UNESCO (Venice office), ICOMOS, Europa Nostra, ICCROM, and, imminently, that of WFFM (World Federation of Friends of Museums) , that recommend it best to the future participants. They enlarged our conceptual and programme spread. Besides the ready assistance of the Croatian national committee of ICOM, the regional national committees have also offered their support. All would be impossible, however, without the local help of Museums of Dubrovnik, local tourist organisation and, of course, city administration. As programme clearly shows, we grow, innovate and get better each year. Our partners and supporters grow in number and in significance. It is due to the partnership with Koelnmesse, at Exponatec Cologne, that we have established Excellence Club, as valuable extension.
The objective of "The Best in Heritage" is not to evaluate, nor give prizes or awards but presenting what is the best. Heritage and excellence being the only limits, we shall see and hear about museums, galleries, visitor attractions as well as about conservation and exhibition centres, about real and virtual, CD-ROM, web sites etc., from actions to institutions..... The final list of the best achievers that will present themselves to the international public contains some 20 diverse experiences. The introductory lecture by an international expert always offer an analysis of trends and tendencies in the heritage based professions. Our intention is to offer to the interested professionals every year a panorama of excellence recognised as such in the preceding year by the professional juries composed of the best professionals. The aim is to offer the abundance of excellent information and the opportunity to forge stable, fruitful professional connections and friendships in the unique atmosphere of medieval Dubrovnik. All the presentations are recorded on a superb DVD and present unique teaching material.
And, one more thing: our event is composed of diverse experiences and all-inclusive in approach, unlike the usual specialist conferences. Our aim is to offer every year a new, fresh panorama of EXCELLENCE. When defining our aims, the first on the list would be INSPIRATION. Besides positive professional knowledge our participants gain, that is the best an organiser can offer. We believe we shall soon exceed the 25% rate of those who come back.
Jacques Perot, President of ICOM,
Tomislav Šola and the local participant of the Feast of St. Blasius
(this year celebrated for the 1035th time so far)
Dubrovnik, February 2002
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 Koelnmesse
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