Willemstad celebrates 15 years on UNESCO-World Heritage List

Thursday, 29 November

WILLEMSTAD — “To celebrate the historic fact that it will be 15 years on December 4th that Willemstad is on the UNESCO-World Heritage List, many activities will be organized, including the DMO-Punda Street Fare this Saturday, and an open day at Naam on Tuesday, followed by a jazz concert ‘A Time to Remember’, which will take place on December 7th at the WTC in cooperation with the Institute Nos Kos and Naam”, said Richenel Ansano, director of the National Archeological Anthropologic Museum (Naam).

 The World-Heritage List of UNESCO, which purpose is to protect natural sources and cultural heritage worldwide, was ratified in the Netherlands in 1992 and contained a clause that included Curaçao. The island was put on the World-Heritage List five years later. In total, it took ten years of intensive work to meet the strict requirements from UNESCO”, said Naam-chairman Lionel Janga.

The so-called Interregional Action Committee Willemstad was set up in 1998 to create the right conditions and meet the requirements. “At the time we only had a regulation going back to 1935, the Building and Housing Regulation (P.B. 19935, no. 64), which was outdated to say the least for modern urban development.

The committee also studied the effects of the destructions of May 30, 1969, whereby the buildings in the center of the city were neglected after the riots”, said Naam, emphasizing that the listing led to ‘an increased awareness on the importance of the conservation of the inner city’.

 Source: Amigoe.com