Charter for an European and International Network

Charter for an European Network of Cultural Centres–Historic Monuments
(Dublin, 1991 - Grand-Hornu, 2000)

The criteria chosen in Dublin to define Network Membership are the following ones:
- A network member must occupy a historic site (monument, building, quarter, garden, site, etc.), thus contributing to the protection of the identity of this site.
- This historic site must serve as the base for the long-term development, by a professional team, of a contemporary cultural project which contributes to defining today’s identity of the site.
- This contemporary cultural project, distinct from the original function of the site, must take into account the historical nature of the latter.
- The projects undertaken by a network member must have a European and even an international scope.

The network is for the time being an informal association. It grows by cooptation, candidates being introduced by one or several members. Each year, the members elect a chairman who is in charge of organising and hosting the annual network meeting. After the successive chairmanships of Schloss Solitude (Germany), Casa de Mateus (Portugal), Chartreuse (France), Alden Biesen (Belgium), Ujazdowski Castle (Poland), Fattoria la Loggia (Italy), Grand-Hornu (Belgium), Suomenlinna (Finland), it is now the turn of La Chartreuse of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon (France) to be in charge of the task. The general secretariat has been handled since the very beginning by the Centres Culturels de Rencontre Association (ACCR). The members of the ACCR are the only centres, among all the cultural centres-historic monuments in Europe, to form a national network. This general secretariat, located at 9, rue Bleue, Paris IX, has set up a resource and documentation centre on historic monument re-use, open to students, researchers and project leaders.