The ESMA Museum and Site of Memory – Former Clandestine Center of Detention, Torture and Extermination is executing a Work Plan for the application to the UNESCO World Heritage List, the program that aims to identify and preserve heritage assets that have outstanding universal value. This application constitutes a challenge and an opportunity for the institution because it proposes a reinterpretation of the property, no longer in the context of its undoubted relevance within Argentine and regional history, but as a contribution to the Cultural Heritage of the world.
The Museum and Site of Memory’s work team presented in January 2022 the final version of the nomination file and its annexes. The documents contain a detailed description of the institution, in accordance with the guidelines of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, and various types of supporting documentation. Also included are more than 160 adhesions to the candidacy, made by national, regional, foreign and international organizations and networks.
The ESMA Museum and Site of Memory is nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List as an exponent of all the Memory Sites of Argentina and the Space for Memory and Human Rights (former ESMA). Its candidacy seeks to contribute to the international visibility of State terrorism based on the enforced disappearance of people, and the value of social consensus as a means to achieve Justice.
Ceremony of signing the nomination file. From left to right, Minister of Justice Martín Soria, Secretary of Human Rights Horacio Pietragalla Corti, Minister of Education Jaime Perczyk, Minister of Culture Tristán Bauer, Argentine Ambassador to UNESCO Marcela Losardo.
