Wall to Wall collaboration
PROJECT LINKS UP WORLD HERITAGE SITES
IT’S a tale of two walls - but not just any old walls.
A collaboration has been launched between Hadrian’s Wall and the Great Wall of China to exchange expertise and boost tourism to both monuments.
Both walls were added to the World Heritage List in the same year – 1987.
A Memorandum of Understanding has now been signed between Historic England and the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage (CACH).
Heritage Minister John Glen said the agreement concerned research, education and tourism, involving a new world heritage Wall to Wall collaboration linking Hadrian’s Wall experts
with their Great Wall of China counterparts.
He said: “Representatives from the two world heritage sites will work together to examine the challenges and opportunities of managing large and complex archaeological remains and explore the potential tourism growth in both countries.
“This collaboration is part of the UK-China People to People dialogue. It is a perfect example of the global significance of heritage and how it can be used to strengthen our
international partnerships, grow tourism and build a truly global Britain.”
Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said he looked forward “to a fruitful collaboration between Historic England and (CACH) with the signing of the Wall to Wall agreement”.
Last year Humphrey Welfare, chairman of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site Partnership Board, accepted an invitation from the British Council to speak on the conservation and management of Hadrian’s Wall at seminars in Beijing and Xi’an, as part of the UKChina high-level dialogue on cultural heritage.
With the Great Wall and Hadrian’s Wall both becoming world heritage sites in the same year, the question was what could they learn from each other’s experiences, and how could they share best practice in future.
This is “the formal beginning of a formal relationship”, said Mr Welfare, who has convened a group of people from Hadrian’s Wall with experience of working with China, to identify opportunities for increasing public involvements in and awareness of the two walls.
A seminar will take place in Newcastle this year and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne will stage a public lecture on October 31 on The Great Wall.
Exhibition ideas in the UK and in China are also being floated.
MP Mary Glindon, whose North Tyneside constituency includes Segedunum Roman fort and urban stretches of Hadrian’s Wall, has also formed an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hadrian’s Wall.
Its aim is “to promote the world heritage site and associated tourism and to explore ways of increasing the importance of the WHS as an economic and cultural asset”.