Première réunion du comité scientifique depuis le dépôt officiel en janvier 2025 de la candidature des Forteresses royales du Languedoc à l'inscription au patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco.
Accueil > Actualités > On May 15, 2025, a new meeting of the scientific committee for the World Heritage nomination of the Royal Fortresses of Languedoc was held in Villegly, marking the resumption of collective work after a one-year break.
Preparing for the ICOMOS visit in autumn 2025
As 2024 was primarily dedicated to drafting the nomination file, this meeting allowed committee members to reconvene to review the project’s progress and share their respective work and expertise.
At the opening of the meeting, a tribute was paid to Pierre-François Toulze, a committee collaborator who passed away this year. Michel Cottes’ words, spoken in his memory, recalled the importance of his contribution and praised his work.
The World Heritage Mission Association team then presented the steps taken since 2023, including the hearing on April 18, 2024, before the French World Heritage Committee (CFPM), the responses provided to their recommendations, as well as the concrete actions carried out within the framework of the management plan and its commitments.
The timeline for the evaluation of the nomination by international bodies was also clarified, with an update on the organization of the ICOMOS field mission scheduled for autumn 2025. The AMPM shared the program currently being developed to welcome the experts under the best conditions.
An editorial policy to be developed around the Fortresses
Discussions also focused on the editorial policy to be developed around the nomination, with the aim of promoting the scientific, historical, and archaeological literature related to the property and its outstanding universal value. The project to conduct an oral survey on the motivations that led to the first archaeological excavations in the 1970s on the serial property sites was approved.
Finally, two committee members, Dominique Baudreu and Rodrigue Tréton, presented their cartographic research work on the inventory of royal castles throughout the territory of the Sénéchaussée of Carcassonne and their settlement dynamics.
In the afternoon, committee members participated in a workshop with the group responsible for designing the interpretation plan: Atelier 963, Sonia Fontaine, Chroniques Conseil, and Arscènes. This exchange aimed to clarify certain elements of the Outstanding Universal Value, to extract key concepts useful for structuring the project, and to gather the committee’s expertise on these issues.
