ICOMOS Canada is proud to announce that ICOMOS has conferred Honorary Membership upon Mr. Dinu Bumbaru and Mr. Julian Smith at its 2020 General Assembly for their distinguished service in the field of conservation, restoration and enhancement of historical monuments, sites, and groups of buildings.
Dinu Bumbaru
Mr. Dinu Bumbaru has been a member of ICOMOS for over 35 years; former International Secretary General and President of ICOMOS Canada.
Born in Vancouver, Mr. Bumbaru grew up at the foot of Mount Royal, a heritage and democratic ensemble in the heart of a plural metropolis. A graduate in architecture from the University of Montreal then in conservation from ICCROM and the University of York, he has worked since 1982 at Heritage Montreal, an independent organization that contributes through education, representation and collaboration, to the protection, enhancement and reappropriation of the built, landscape and memorial heritage, archaeological and natural communities and neighborhoods.
Anchored in the associative sector – locally and globally, it participates in reflections, mobilizations and, more and more, consultations on heritage sites or groups and to improve conservation, land use planning and participation practices citizen. It works to bring together professionals, academics, private and public sectors of civil society to give heritage and its conservation a “function in life collective ”as promoted by the World Heritage Convention, worthy of the 21st century.
Volunteer, Mr. Bumbaru defended and illustrated heritage in emergency situations, participating in the 1992 UNESCO mission to Dubrovnik, a besieged world heritage city, or visiting the historic oasis of Bam, in Iran, just after the deadly earthquake of December 2003 to prepare an international solidarity collaboration under the aegis of ICOMOS and UNESCO. Despite the objections of certain committees, he also ensured the holding of the first General Assembly of ICOMOS in Africa, a continent that is still too much forgotten despite its cultural, heritage and professional richness. Finally, he participated in the foundation of several international scientific committees (ICORP, ISC20, TheoPhilo, PRERICO), and modernization of the organization in 2014.
His work has been recognized by Canada, Quebec and Montreal as well as by the orders of architects and town planners as well as several associations including the TICCIH which appointed him honorary member.
Julian Smith
Mr. Julian Smith was a founding member of ICOMOS Canada, and attended his first ICOMOS General Assembly in Moscow in 1978. He has since been involved with both ICOMOS and UNESCO, particularly in relation to cultural landscape theory and practice. He was a member of the program committee for the 18th General Assembly in Florence, on “Heritage and Landscape as Human Values”, and was a co-author of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape.
Mr. Smith is Past President of ICOMOS Canada. He believes that ICOMOS provides the most important global forum for meaningful diversity in the heritage conservation field, and for building on that diversity to advance both theory and practice.
He is currently Principal of Julian Smith & Associates Architects, responsible for projects involving culturally-significant sites both in Canada and abroad. He has also been involved in education, as founder and director of the M.A. program in heritage conservation at Carleton University, and as Executive Director of the Willowbank School and Centre for Cultural Landscape.