History
Blue Shield Austria was formally recognised as a Blue Shield committee in 2008.
The Austrian National Committee Blue Shield is one of the founding members of the Association of the National Committees of the Blue Shield and has its seat in Vienna. In addition to the five Austrian representations of ICA, ICOM, ICOMOS, IFLA and CCAAA, the Austrian UNESCO Commission and the Austrian Society for the Protection of Cultural Property, a forerunner of Blue Shield in Austria, are constituent institutional members of the Austrian National Committee Blue Shield.
The Blue Shield organisation is based on a long history of evolving cultural property protection law. The first international treaties to protect cultural property from the effects of armed conflict date to the 19th century. However, following the widespread destruction of cultural heritage during the Second World War, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was written to create rules to protect cultural property during armed conflicts. It is the most widely ratified international treaty dedicated exclusively to cultural property protection.
Following this, in 1996 the International Committee of the Blue Shield was created to protect endangered cultural heritage by the four non-governmental organisations, which represent professionals active in the fields of archives, libraries, monuments and sites, and museums.
The Austrian National Committee Blue Shield is one of the founding members of the Association of the National Committees of the Blue Shield and has its seat in Vienna. In addition to the five Austrian representations of ICA, ICOM, ICOMOS, IFLA and CCAAA, the Austrian UNESCO Commission and the Austrian Society for the Protection of Cultural Property, a forerunner of Blue Shield in Austria, are constituent institutional members of the Austrian National Committee Blue Shield.
The Blue Shield organisation is based on a long history of evolving cultural property protection law. The first international treaties to protect cultural property from the effects of armed conflict date to the 19th century. However, following the widespread destruction of cultural heritage during the Second World War, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was written to create rules to protect cultural property during armed conflicts. It is the most widely ratified international treaty dedicated exclusively to cultural property protection.
Following this, in 1996 the International Committee of the Blue Shield was created to protect endangered cultural heritage by the four non-governmental organisations, which represent professionals active in the fields of archives, libraries, monuments and sites, and museums.
The four organisations worked together to prepare for, and respond to, emergency situations that could affect cultural heritage. By the time the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention was written in 1999, the ICBS was a recognised advisory body to the Inter-Governmental Committee for cultural property protection in armed conflict. They took up the emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention as the symbol of the International Committee of the Blue Shield, in line with Article 17 of the Convention.
In 2008, the Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS) was established to coordinate the work of the national committees. In 2016, ICBS and ANCBS amalgamated to become simply “The Blue Shield”. You can learn more about the Blue Shield organisation on the Blue Shield International website.
For more information about the founding of ANCBS, read the article about the meeting in Torino on the BSI website.
For more information on the history of the Blue Shield, ICBS, and ANCBS, read the pdf article:
Twenty Years Blue Shield (1996-2016) by Krste Bogoeski, or read about other Blue Shield meetings.
For more information on the history of the Blue Shield, ICBS, and ANCBS, read the pdf article:
Twenty Years Blue Shield (1996-2016) by Krste Bogoeski, or read about other Blue Shield meetings.