Every year, on the occasion of the International Day for Monuments and Sites, ICOMOS proposes a theme for the celebrations and activities to be organised by Committees, members and partners.
“Italia Valley” Antarctic Memorial (MAVI) Cepparo-Bove, celebrates the day without forgetting its goal: a formal designation of a new HSM for the remaining ruins of the first Italian scientific research base in Antarctica, destroyed by the Argentine Navy, and abandoned for over 40 years. Ruins are still visible at Italia Valley.
IV3CCT, Prof. PhD Julius Fabbri (pic aside) did launch the rebirth project of the very 1st Italian Antarctic scientific Base built in Antarctica.
Italia Valley (62° 10’South, 58° 31’ West) is a small valley lying East-Northeast of Hervé Cove in Ezcurra inlet, on King George Island in the South Shetlands. The feature was named “Conca Italia” (Italian hollow) and used as the site of Base Giacomo Bove (sailor and explorer, 23 April 1852 – 9 August 1887) by the first private Italian expedition to Antarctica, 1975–76, led by Renato Cepparo.
A replica of the actual ruins, has been rebuilt at Cervignano del Friuli (Udine) by students, Civil Protection and many associations at high school “IISS Arturo Malignani” in Northern Italy. It is called ex situ conservation, and describes the reconstruction of that old Antarctic site. A preliminary step for a future formal designation of a new HSM (Historic Site and Monument) within the ATCM (Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting).
Participating in the national competition was the idea proposed by Prof. PhD Julius Fabbri (j.fabbri@virgilio.it) on the occasion of the International Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. The “UNESCO Project” is part of the “radio-school-Unesco”, and was promoted by the “Adri-Antartica Cultural Association”, partner of the Municipality of Cervignano del Friuli, in agreement with the School. The competition was attended by nine classes with participation of student’s parents and the whole town who did help to carry out the project. In all, at least five teachers and about one hundred or more students attended.
On February 24th 2018, the “first stone” of the Memorial was laid and some students spoke on the radio with the special callsign II3BOVE (WAP-271).
The activity aims to recover the historical memory of the Italia Valley in the Antarctic Peninsula, a strategic and naturalistic place where, in 1976, Renato Cepparo founded the first Italian Scientific Base in Antarctica (pic aside), which he named after the nineteenth-century explorer Giacomo Bove, brave officer of the Italian Royal Navy.
From 07 March 2018 the IISS Arturo Malignani of the Bassa Friulana is a UNESCO associated school by the project of construction of a new visitor center called the Antarctic Memorial “Valle Italia” (MAVI), Cepparo-Bove.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), is a global non-governmental organization associated with UNESCO. Its mission is to promote the conservation, protection, use and enhancement of monuments, building complexes and sites (https://www.icomos.org/en/about-icomos/mission-and-vision/icomos-mission).
ICOMOS works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places. It is the only global non-government organization of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage.
Now, more than ever, the theme of Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility is important as an expression of the global unity in the face of the ongoing worldwide health crisis.