Frequently Asked Questions

Launched in 2013, the 7 Most Endangered Programme is a civil society campaign to save Europe’s endangered heritage. It raises awareness, makes independent technical assessments, proposes recommendations for action and seeks to rally support to save the selected endangered sites. Being on the 7 Most Endangered List often serves as a catalyst for action and as an incentive for mobilisation of the necessary public or private support.

The 7 Most Endangered Programme is run by Europa Nostra – the European Voice of Civil Society committed to Cultural and Natural Heritage – in partnership with the European Investment Bank Institute. It also has the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, as part of Europa Nostra’s network project European Cultural Heritage Agora.

The Call for Nominations for the 7 Most Endangered Programme 2025 will open in June 2024.

• Europa Nostra’s Country Representations, Member and Associate Organisations (see the full list)
• Public and private bodies active in the heritage field located in countries where Europa Nostra is not yet represented
• Member organisations of the European Heritage Alliance
• Partners of the European Heritage Hub
• Individual members of Europa Nostra

Yes, privately-owned sites can be nominated for the 7 Most Endangered Programme. In the nomination form, there is a dedicated space to add the details of the nominator and to indicate whether the owner has endorsed your nomination or not. In case of selection of the site to our programme, the relationship with the site owner(s) will become increasingly important for our expert team to undertake the site assessment and any subsequent actions.

Yes, intangible heritage is among the endangered area/site typologies of the programme. Overall, the nomination of a project towards the conservation and valorisation of endangered intangible heritage or traditional crafts techniques could lead to positive outcomes in terms of local/European awareness-raising, education and transmission of the intangible practice to future generations. In 2020, an intangible heritage project – the Karas Traditional Wine Technology from Armenia – was submitted to the programme.

Yes, a nomination that was not selected for a previous edition of the 7 Most Endangered Programme can be resubmitted. The nomination can be resubmitted even if the site(s) was previously included in a shortlist. The nomination would need to be updated, including the latest information and developments, in order to be resubmitted.

An international advisory panel, comprising specialists in history, archaeology, architecture, conservation and finance, meet to discuss the applications and to shortlist the most endangered monuments and sites. The final list of 7 sites is selected by the Board of Europa Nostra.

The selection is made on the basis of the outstanding heritage significance and cultural value of each of the sites as well as on the basis of the serious danger that they are facing. The level of engagement of local communities and the commitment of public and private stakeholders to saving these sites are considered as crucial added values. Another selection criterion is the potential of these sites to act as a catalyst for sustainable socio-economic development as well as a tool for promoting peace and dialogue within their localities and wider regions.

Teams of experts representing Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank Institute, together with the organisations that nominated the sites and other partners, will assess each case by collecting information and by meeting with key stakeholders. These multidisciplinary teams will provide expert advice, identify possible sources of funding and help mobilise wide support to save these heritage landmarks. At the end of the assessment process, they will formulate and communicate a set of recommendations for future action.

Since the 2021 edition, 7 Most Endangered Programme has included the possibility for the 7 selected sites to be eligible for an European Investment Bank (EIB) Heritage Grant of up to 10.000 euros to start the implementation of actions, studies or assistance measures for the threatened site.

For the selected sites, there are reports and in some cases follow up ‘fiches’, in which progress is outlined. This refers to progress on plans/activities which are being implemented based on the recommendations of the reports.
The current categories are:
Good: there is good progress on implementing a plan on the site.
Partly completed: conservation has started.
Partly slow: there is slow progress on the implementation of the recommendations.
Slow: steps have been taken but there is slow progress.
Poor: difficulties remain.
Unavailable: there currently is no detailed information available.
Unstable: there is political instability
No mission: a mission on site was not carried out due to security/political reasons.

The 7 Most Endangered Programme celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Since its launch in 2013, 56 threatened monuments and heritage sites from 31 countries across Europe have been selected. The first list was published in 2013, the second list in 2014, the third list in 2016, the fourth list in 2018, the fifth list in 2020, the sixth list in 2021, the seventh list in 2022 and the eighth list in 2023.

In addition, in 2016, the Venice Lagoon in Italy was declared as THE most endangered heritage site in Europe; and in 2022, the Board of Europa Nostra declared the rich and diverse heritage in Ukraine as THE most endangered heritage in the whole of Europe.