In August 2022 the Czech Republic played host to the 26th ICOM General Conference (August 20 – 28), entitled ICOM Prague 2022, “The Power of Museumsˮ. Held once in three years, this conference serves as a hub for promoting international contacts among museums. This year´s conference venue was the Congress Center Prague and its main program proceeded between August 22 and 24, 2022, covering lectures, panel discussions, workshops, roundtables and other events. During the ICOM Prague 2022 conference its delegates could also avail themselves of a rich accompanying cultural program, for instance a Museum Night staged in the museums in the center of Prague. The last conference days were given over to excursions. The delegates left Prague to visit as many as 40 different localities throughout the Czech Republic that presented the wealth and diversity of the local cultural heritage and care for its monuments.
The Terezín Memorial figured as one of the sites visited by the delegates in the individual regions of the Czech Republic. The excursion to North Bohemia on August 26th, was combined with a morning visit to nearby Litoměřice. In the afternoon, a group of 35 museum professionals came to the Terezín Memorial, first visiting the Small Fortress, the wartime site of the Gestapo Police Prison (1940-1945) , complete with the exhibitions currently open to the public in the exhibition premises in the Fourth Courtyard.
The sightseeing tour of the Small Fortress was followed by a visit to the Ghetto Museum in the town of Terezín (Ghetto for the Jewish population was established in the town during World War II, in November 1941). Refreshment was then prepared for the visitors in the Ghetto Museum; this was followed by informal meetings of the conference delegates with the Terezín Memorial employees. Mr. Jan Roubínek, Director of the Terezín Memorial, officially welcomed the visitors and outlined the history of the institution, also mentioning the Memorial´s assistance granted to Ukrainian refugees. The next speakers were heads of the individual Departments of the Terezín Memorial (Departments of History, Documentation, Education and External Relations and Marketing) who introduced the agenda of their departments, also presenting the project of reconstructing the Ghetto Museum in Terezín, due to start in the following years.
After the program in the cinema, the group of ICOM delegates continued their visit to the objects of the former Ghetto and then returned to Prague.
Based on a press release issued by the PR Department of the Terezín Memorial
