Cultural Heritage without Borders, CHwB, is Swedish Non-governmental organization working to preserve cultural monuments endangered in various ways.

The Organization was founded in April, 1995, in the spirit of the Hague Convention from 1954 to lend international support to cultural heritage at risk of being destroyed whether as a result of natural disasters, war or neglect because of poverty or political and social conditions.

The Founders of CHwB are leading representatives from the areas of politics, culture, the arts, as well as academics and professionals in the field of cultural heritage. The committee of CHwB consists of nine members. Six of them are appointed by the National Heritage Board, the Swedish Association of Architects, the ICOMOS and the ICOM, and other three are appointed by the committee itself.

During the last ten years, CHwB has restored nineteen monuments of culture in eight cities from the south to the north of BiH. The overall goal for CHwb’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina is to strengthen the country’s prospects to assume its own responsibility to restore, conserve and spread information about its common cultural heritage in keeping with established international conventions.

The work of CHwB has not only focused on restoration, but also on the development of museum cooperation, NGO network, capacity building and archives in Western Balkan Region. While working on these projects, CHwB has tried to establish a broad network of local partners, from ministries and the leading institutions in the field of monument protection to municipalities and local contractors. This network was strengthened through meetings, seminars, workshops and study visits that were organised by CHwB together with different partners, in order to discuss the common problems and views in the field of cultural heritage restoration.

Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency is one of the main organizations supporting our work in the Western Balkans region. The first projects were part of emergency aid, whereas today the activities of CHwB have shifted towards more regular development co-operation as the demands and needs of the country/region have changed.