Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called “The Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located.
How Willemstad got inscribed on the World Heritage List
In 1985 when Mr Frank Elstak (former Secretary General of the Netherlands Antilles National Commission for UNESCO) became in charge of the section of UNESCO at the Department of Education he was asked to urgently work on encouraging the Dutch Government to ratify the UNESCO Convention on World Heritage. At first instance the Netherlands was not interested in ratifying this Convention, it was for this reason no efforts wherever done to ratify it, so that the islands could benefit.
Elstak did various researches on the island and it came to light that almost no one had heard of this Convention. What drew his attention about this Convention was its objective to safeguard, protect the world’s natural and cultural heritage, access to the World Heritage Fund among other. To be able to benefit from this the support of the Netherlands to this Convention was important. In those days there were two levels of Government, Central and island The Central Government was Associate Member of UNESCO (Netherlands Antilles), but physical matters were the island territories responsibility. A public servant from the island territory of Curaçao was designated on behalf of the Government of Curaçao to be responsible for working on it and Elstak was the counterpart on the Federal level. The Bureau of Foreign Affairs also formed part of the deliberations When it was brought forward to postulate Willemstad on the World Heritage List of humanity, it was realized that this could only be possible if the Kingdom of the Netherlands became a member of the Convention. In 1992 The Netherlands ratified the Convention and in 1997 Willemstad was put on the World Heritage List during the World Heritage meeting in Italy.
Willemstad 25th anniversary World Heritage List
In 2022 Curaçao celebrated the 25th anniversary of Willemstad being on UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Spatial Planning organized a week celebration filled with different activities in our downtown, including Pietermaai, Punda, Scharloo and Otrobanda districts.
Monumental buildings were open for visitors, who were interested to learn more about our heritage.
Minister Cooper from the Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Spatial Planning and Minister van Heydoorn from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, ended the week celebration on the 4th of December during a nice ceremony.
