National Heritage Week from 18-26 August was an opportunity to discover and learn more about Ireland’s history and culture.
According to Heritage Week co-ordinator Rebecca Reynolds, 90 per cent of the 1,500 activities and sites registered were free and about 600,000 people were expected throughout the week.
Contrary to the tradition in other European countries, where architectural heritage is the core of the event, the Irish week has a broader scope.
Apart from monuments and museums, visitors were able to attend dance or theatre classes, music performances, archaeological digs or even sailing races – showing that Irish cultural heritage isn’t exclusively represented by Celtic culture and the struggle for independence.
On the ground, many volunteers and organisations were involved in the management of the week, with NGOs, city councils and individual enthusiasts organising activities and open days, said Reynolds.
Meanwhile, organisers admitted that they encountered difficulties in including activities from minority groups in the week’s events, despite Ireland’s increasingly multicultural society over the last 20 years.
Reynolds believes this is “highly linked” with the problems of integration as a whole, noting that some minority groups tended to think they did not fit in during a week celebrating Irish heritage.
She added that the Heritage Council is working on it “and is creating new ties with these communities which must not be kept away from our cultural landscape. It is one of our objectives for the next few years.”
National Heritage forms part of the National Heritage Days (NHD), a European programme launched in 1991 designed to enhance awareness of and interest in national heritage by organising activities and opening heritage sites to the public.
Ireland’s Heritage Week programme has been administered by the Heritage Council since 2005.
By Fabien Nouvene
