Smriti Pant (World Heritage Studies)

Smriti Pant came to Cottbus from India to study World Heritage Studies and graduated successfully in 2009. Most recently, she has been living and working in Baden-Baden in southwest Germany for the very exciting transnational UNESCO World Heritage nomination project “Great Spa Towns of Europe”. The initiative of nominating Baden-Baden with ten other exceptional historical spa towns located in seven European countries as a transnational serial World Heritage Site is one of its kind, and not without challenges. The ambitious project succeeded this year, and the eleven European spa towns were inscribed as one property on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 24^th July 2021. You will find a lot of great photos with travel tips for Baden-Baden and around on Smriti’s Instagram account das.badenbaden.journal.

Hello Smriti, how did you come to study World Heritage Studies in Cottbus?
It all started with a meeting with a group of professors from the Wold Heritage Studies programme in Cottbus at my other Alma Mater – the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Delhi in India. They were participating in an EU-Asia Link Workshop, and I was part of the students’ team assisting the SPA professors in organising the event. I was in my final year of the School’s Bachelor in Architecture programme at the time, and on the look out for master’s study programmes in heritage conservation in Europe. An engaging conversation on the bus ride to a site visit ensued. The multi-disciplinarity of the programme, the international perspectives it offered, and the wide-range of applicability of the knowledge gained attracted me to apply for World Heritage Studies at Cottbus.

How were your experiences at the BTU and how did it prepare you for the World Heritage profession?
My experience as a World Heritage Studies’ student at BTU was everything I had imagined it to be at the time of application, and so much more!

The university professors and guest lecturers teaching the multi-disciplinary study programme were excellent – sharing valuable experiences, nurturing curiosity and offering valuable mentorship. Besides, with fellow students coming from so many different parts of the world, the lectures, seminars and workshops I attended turned out to be intercultural hubs for valuable real-life lessons.

Internship opportunities during the study programme took me to a historic castle dating to the 13^th century and set amidst a rolling estate in the Scottish Highlands, where I could put my theoretical knowledge of management planning for heritage conservation into practise and for use by Atholl Estates. At the UN Headquarters in New York, it was all about learning the art of managing the reorganisation of an art collection in the backdrop of an large-scale energy retrofit of the 20^th-century landmark building, and familiarising myself with the administrative functioning of the inter-governmental organisation.

These enriching experiences in turn shaped the choice of my master’s thesis, which marked an important step towards my future work in the field of world heritage management. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. phil. Leo Schmidt, I wrote my thesis on “The Conservation Plan Dichotomy: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practise.” The case study for my research was Toddington Manor, a 19^th-century country house in southwest England belonging to the star artist Damien Hirst. Immediately upon graduating from the World Heritage Studies programme, I was employed as a Research Associate at Prof. Schmidt’s Department to prepare a Conservation Management Plan for Toddington Manor.

What is your current job in Baden-Baden?
Since May 2019, I have been working as a Research Associate for the “Great Spa Towns of Europe” UNESCO World Heritage nomination project at the Department for World Heritage Nomination and Urban Design in the Municipality of Baden-Baden. I furthermore provide support for coordinating the project at the local, state, national and European level.  In this capacity, my typical week involves working for the Municipal Office in Baden-Baden, the State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg in Esslingen and the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart.

My work ranges from long-term strategic project planning to undertaking research for in-situ heritage conservation and management measures; assisting with organising mayors’, site managers’ and other stakeholder meetings and workshops; and supporting conceptualisation and implementation of site interpretation, communication and PR activities.

How is living in Baden-Baden, what are some of your favourite activities there?
After Cottbus, Baden-Baden has become my second home in Germany, and I simply love living here. Baden-Baden is a historic town of short distances, with endless options for indulging in cultural activities and appreciating the beauty of nature. It is also a heaven for amateur photographers like me, and you can often see me trying to capture the multiple facets of this alluring town with my mobile camera. It is not for nothing that the New York Times recently described Baden-Baden as the place where “the Belle Époque meets the Age of Instagram”!

In addition, the municipal forest – which provides a gorgeous natural setting for the historic spa town, as well as the Black Forest – which is located at a stone’s throw from here: both offer an amazing range of hiking trails. One of my personal favourite is the “Panorama Way”, a multi-day award-winning hiking trail around the town.

Please tell us more about the project “Great Spa Towns of Europe”? What was the greatest challenge of the project team and what was your part in addressing it?
The “Great Spa Towns of Europe” is a group of eleven spa towns across seven countries – namely Baden bei Wien (Austria), Spa (Belgium), Františkovy Lázně, Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně (Czech Republic), Vichy (France), Baden-Baden, Bad Ems and Bad Kissingen (Germany), Montecatini Terme (Italy) and the City of Bath (United Kingdom) – that was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a transnational serial site on 24^th July 2021. All the eleven towns evolved around natural mineral water springs. They bear an exceptional testimony to the European spa phenomenon, which gained its highest expression from around 1700 to the 1930s and led to the evolution of a unique urban typology based on medical, social and recreational aspects of “taking the cure”.

The complex scope of the project together with the large number of stakeholders from the seven European countries involved in the nomination project has been, in my opinion, one of the greatest challenges for the project team. Since I have joined the project team, there have been at least 40+ ministerial representatives, Lord Mayors and Mayors, site managers as well as specialist advisors and experts that have been involved with the project at any given point of time. Furthermore, a number of local community members and stakeholders from each of the eleven towns have actively contributed to the success of the project.

My work in Baden-Baden for the Municipality, the State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden- Württemberg in Esslingen and the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing Baden-Württemberg gives me the unique opportunity to create bridges between the project work being done at local, state, national and European level. For instance, I have been closely involved with setting the agenda and organising the meetings with the local stakeholders in Baden-Baden as well as of the Baden-Baden UNESCO Steering Group, the German Working Group involving all three participating federal states, the Site Managers’ Group and the Mayors’ Steering Group.

What are some of your tips for students looking for a job in the field of World Heritage?
Tip 1: Familiarise yourself, at an early stage of your studies, with the profiles of potential employers working at the intersection of your primary field of expertise and World Heritage. Keep your eyes and ears open for job descriptions of your interest being advertised by these institutions/offices. It will help you understand the job market and identify the additional (soft) skills, if any, that you need to acquire during the master’s programme for improving your employability prospects.

Tip 2: Be patient and do not undersell yourself. Applying for another internship might be tempting while waiting for those interview calls to come in post-graduation. However, before you do so, weigh it against the option of taking up a decently paid position in a field which will help you develop valuable skills for your next step towards a successful career in World Heritage.

Tip 3: Reach out to the BTU’s World Heritage Studies alumni family for exchanging experiences and seeking advise. I promise, you will not be disappointed. For all you know, some of us might even be on the lookout for someone exactly like you!