Meeting the past in the present: authenticity and cultural values in heritage conservation at the fourteenth-century Majapahit heritage site in Trowulan, Indonesia

Abstract

ABSTRACTDiscourse on heritage conservation has undergone significant changes in both scope and substance since the Nara Document on Authenticity in 1994. Current heritage policy dictates that conservation should be conceived as a complex process, which aims to make use of heritage places whilst retaining their cultural values and authenticity. However, these two latter aspects are critical and need to be carefully interpreted. Authenticity is not only a matter of physical materiality, but also has to do with identifying intrinsic values which sustain the memory of the past.Taking the Majapahit Houses Programme (MHP) in Trowulan heritage site as a case study, this paper shows how these notions of authenticity and cultural values have come into conflict with present-day conservation practices. Flexibility is the key to the development of balanced heritage policies. One way of achieving this is by giving local communities the chance to mediate their own heritage-related disputes and personally participate in the practice of heritage conservation. Only then will a common policy be achieved and heritage experts and local communities find a way of working together to achieve sustainable outcomes.