Speech at the First European conference on Voluntary organisations in the field of cultural heritage

Ladies and gentlemen!

I am happy to have a second opportunity to be with you in this conference. Unfortunately I had to leave you this morning to attend the weekly meeting of the government. But I hear from the participants from my ministry that you had excellent introductory speeches and interesting workshops.

And I will return to the issues of the conference in a minute or two. First I would like to tell you a little about the place you are right now.

This building is the result of a co-operation between the local freemasons lodge and the Municipality of Christiania, as Oslo was called until 1925. The freemasons needed a building and the city needed a representative hall, so they joined forces and built this festival building, with this hall modelled on the appearance of the large festival hall in the Royal Palace. And from the well known founding year of the Fortidsminneforeningen, 1844, this hall was in use both by the freemasons and the City Council, as well as being the centre of social life in Christiania. City Council meetings were held here till the present Town Hall came into use in 1947.

From then and for many years it served as the lunchroom for the workers from the harbour, that is the people getting the cargo on and off the freighter ships that used to operate Oslo Harbour before container transport took over. So this building has its worker’s history too.

As you can see now it is restored to its former glory, and it is a pleasant surrounding for hospitality towards distinguished cultural heritage oriented groups as yours. It was by the way also here the Fortidsminneforeningen celebrated its 150 ^th> anniversary in 1994.

The intention of this dinner is both work and pleasure. I hope you will find pleasure in the company and entertainment. I also hope that you find pleasure in what you are served, since food is an important part of the cultural heritage. Increased globalisation has given us a wider range of choices, but it is still important to preserve our national food traditions.

And then we are back to our central issue. How do we develop our societies and improve living conditions without doing away with cultural and traditional values. This challenge faces all modern societies, and in most countries we are building governmental and other public structures to address these problems. But in every country one has to realise that public effort is not enough. We have to rely on civic pride and local voluntary commitment. It is our great wish that this conference can facilitate contacts that can result in co-operation in strengthening the cultural heritage side of the third sector. In this respect this is also a working dinner.

But hopefully you will also find pleasure in good work! So let me just wish you all a pleasant meal and an enjoyable evening!