IE Conference: Re-interpreting heritage in the light of Faro
16-19 April 2026
Faro, Portugal
During four days, 144 participants from 35 countries across 4 continents gathered around the theme Re-interpreting heritage in the light of Faro, reflecting on how interpretation can help connect people, place, heritage, and democratic values in meaningful and lasting ways.
It was here where the Council of Europe launched the “Faro Convention” in 2005, embarking on a journey towards more democratic, people-centred, and value-based practices in dealing with Europe’s heritage.
The official legal text refers to cultural heritage only, its underlying rationale matters for all heritage interpretation, including natural heritage, as Europe is facing multiple challenges.
The conference opened with contributions from
🔹 Gonçalo Carvalho, Sciaena Association,
🔹 Helena Vičič, Director of Interpret Europe,
🔹 Yoana Stefanova, Project Officer at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA),
🔹 Bruno Inácio, Vice-President of the Culture Department of CCDR Algarve – Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Algarve, I.P.
🔹 António Miguel Pina, President of the Municipality of Faro, and
🔹 Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins, Council of Europa Nostra.
In her welcome speech, Helena Vičič, Director of Interpret Europe, offered a powerful reminder that if we want democracy to endure, we must strengthen people’s ability to interpret for themselves, not simply to receive.
See the summary video of the opening here.
Find out more about the theme and call for papers here.
The city of Faro and its surroundings, in Portugal’s Algarve, are alluringly rich in natural and cultural heritage.
Faro is situated in the extreme south-west of Europe and the whole region has been shaped throughout history by the succession and coexistence of diverse cultures and religions arriving by land and sea. It can look back on a turbulent past and it displays traces of these events everywhere. Many names in present-day Portugal and Spain testify to the influence of Romans, Byzantines, Visigoths and finally Moors. For centuries, explorers set sail from the Iberian Peninsula exporting, in turn, influences from this region.
What the Muslims once called Al Gharb, which simply meant the West, is what we now know as the Algarve and, with plenty of sunshine and beaches, it is one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. But the Algarve is much more than that. Between the Atlantic Ocean and the mountains in the hinterland, we can discover a diverse landscape rich in natural and cultural treasures. This geologically diverse landscape is the home of carob, fig, almond and eucalyptus trees, not to mention the ancient olive trees and mighty cork oaks. The people of the Algarve have always known how to use the assets of the region and old traditions live on in many places, many adapted to the times.