Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola was born in Tokyo in 1942 in the Ideta family, an ancient Samurai family, originally from Kyoto. In 1967, she married French painter Balthus Klossowski de Rola (1908-2001), at the time Director of the French Academy in Rome.

Since 1977 she has been living in Switzerland at the Grand Chalet, Rossinière, last home of Balthus, now the headquarters of the Balthus Foundation of which she is Honorary President. She is a painter and her works are to be found in major private collections around the world. She is a member of the Honorary Committee for the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music and for the Giving a Soul to Globalization Colloquium 2003. In her capacity as a Cultural Patron, Countess Setsuko was invited to attend the World Heritage International Congress held in Venice in November 2002. T

his event marked thee 30th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and reflected on some of the main issues, achievements and challenges of the World heritage mission. Since then Countess Setsuko became particularly interested in and supportive of UNESCO’s Young People’s World Heritage Education Project, which offers many practical activities that can be adapted to schools in different countries and cultures. This Project was launched in 1994 by UNESCO and has been managed jointly by the World Heritage Centre in close co-operation with the Associated Schools Project Network in the Education Sector.

Countess Setsuko participated also in the World Heritage Education Planning Meeting, held at UNESCO Headquarters in March 2003. She has accepted also to become a member of the International Jury of the Mondialogo School Contest – 2004, which is the first global contest for school students involved in intercultural dialogue.