Cultural Heritage

Value of Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage was once defined as the structures or artifacts (such as the Parthenon in Athens) that expressed the highest attainment of a civilization. Increasingly, groups of buildings and parts of the city in which the site is located and the beliefs and practices that give meaning to the place are considered part of a cultural landscape and thus valuable heritage as, for instance, with the palaces and temples of Lhasa in Tibet. From single monuments, protection for cultural heritage has expanded to include historic districts and territories. In addition, preservation efforts have moved from concentrating solely on the structures of the powerful and wealthy to an appreciation of their intercon-nectedness to the vernacular fabric in which they are situated. Gardens, open spaces, streets, festivals, folk music and dance, and religious and artistic practices are the connective tissue that binds the built world into an organic whole. Even the remains of mines and mining settlements have achieved heritage status in recent years in the United Kingdom and in Japan. Of course, not everything that has been or should be inherited from the past can be preserved. A society faced with the burden of caretaking heritage has to decide what heritage is to be retained.

The value of cultural heritage is in the significance that society attaches to it. Hence, the worth of cultural heritage is socially constructed. People imbue the physical structures or spaces with cultural meanings, and religious traditions are often at the root of these meanings. The Richtersveld cultural landscape in South Africa, home of the semi-nomadic Nama people, is significant not for any grand monuments but for reflecting seasonal patterns that may have persisted for over two millennia. The Nama oral traditions mark places and the attributes of their landscape rich with spiritual meanings. Heritage structures and sites mean different things to different people, and their interpretation is often contested by different ethnic, religious, or national groups. The old city of Jerusalem is a striking example of the disputes among several meanings and groups.

...