NI built heritage set for province-wide tour

The Environment and Heritage Service ’s travelling Built Heritage exhibition "Expo" is set for a tour of Northern Ireland today starting with Belfast City Hall.

Expo displays the important work that the DOE agency carries out in protecting local historic monuments and buildings and illustrates what the built heritage can do for the future of Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the tour Richard Rogers, Chief Executive for EHS, said: "Historic monuments and buildings play an important role in not only our cultural heritage, but also our culture of today. We use them to teach children of our cultural past, to regenerate our cities and communities, and to show the rest of the world who we are and where we came from.

"What better way to show children what it was like to live in the 17th century than to take them to places where it actually happened? Northern Ireland has hundreds of monuments and sites that show children and adults alike, how our ancestors lived and worked in times gone by.

"There are hundreds of monuments and buildings within our rural villages and bustling cities that are fast becoming places that oversees visitors want to experience and enjoy. Places like Carrickfergus Castle, Navan Fort, Mount Stewart and even Margaret Gallagher’s thatched cottage. Not to mention places they’ll want to stay overnight – B&B’s and restored cottages and castles are some of our most outstanding places for tourist accommodation."

Mr Rogers said one of the key aims for EHS was ‘Protecting the heritage for future generations’. "If everybody recognises the value that the built has for the future of Northern Ireland, we can ensure that our past will indeed be there for the enjoyment of many future generations to come," he added.

The ‘Expo’, which was launched in September 2002 by the then Minister of the Environment, Dermot Nesbitt MLA, will travel to a number of District and Borough Councils throughout Northern Ireland for public viewing.

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