Mt Athos, the peninsula shared by 20 Christian Orthodox Monasteries in Northern Greece, has been designated World Heritage Site (for both culture and nature) in 1988, as well as Natura2000 area in its entirety.
After a mission to Athos in 2006, the World Heritage Committee proposed an integrated approach to the management of Mt Athos. This was accepted by the Holy Community, the authority representing the Monasteries in the area. Thus, in December 2012, the Holy Community approved the preliminary phase of the ‘Strategic Framework for the conservation and management of the cultural and natural heritage of Mt Athos’. This study was prepared by a team of experts coordinated by Thymio Papayannis, with inputs from the Athonite Committee on Institutional Matters and secretarial support by Med-INA.
On 24 January 2013, the Greek Secretariat General of Culture has organised in Thessaloniki a workshop in the Museum of Byzantine Civilisation, during which the Holy Community has presented the preliminary phase of the study further which was favorably discussed by the participants and adopted by the officials representing the General Secretariat of Culture.
