Towards a Shared Understanding of the Concept of Heritage in the European Context

Luigi Petti,Claudia Trillo,Busisiwe Chikomborero Ncube Makore

doi:10.3390/heritage2030155

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of commonalities and differences in the concept of cultural heritage in Europe. This was achieved through a comprehensive academic and non-academic literature review focused on different definitions and conceptualisations related to cultural heritage internationally and in the European context. This is complemented with a comparative study in three European countries. This paper frames cultural heritage using the foundation set up by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). It further discusses the European actors involved in defining heritage today. Finally, it focuses on three European countries and verifies that they share an understanding of cultural heritage including classifications, categorisation and heritage values. Findings from the overall study show how the definition of cultural heritage across Europe is reasonably homogeneous, and this is confirmed by the analysis of the three chosen test case studies. This finding is relevant to policy makers as it allows the support of potential common frameworks for heritage management at the European level, including risk management and risk reduction common methodologies. Further studies will shed light on the implementation issues which may arise from the creation of a common European framework for cultural heritage management, with emphasis on risk management and risk reduction of cultural heritage.

Highlights

Conceptualising cultural heritage globally and in Europe has become more multifaceted and sophisticated throughout the years, with the concept of heritage holding multiple meanings, depending on different sets of values [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
This finding is relevant to policy makers as it allows the support of potential common frameworks for heritage management at the European level, including risk management and risk reduction common methodologies
Further studies will shed light on the implementation issues which may arise from the creation of a common European framework for cultural heritage management, with emphasis on risk management and risk reduction of cultural heritage

Summary

Introduction

Conceptualising cultural heritage globally and in Europe has become more multifaceted and sophisticated throughout the years, with the concept of heritage holding multiple meanings, depending on different sets of values [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Despite the complexity of the concept, it is still possible to identify similarities in the various approaches to heritage protection across Europe. The purpose of this study is to understand whether a common approach to the protection and safeguarding of European heritage can be identified, allowing the creation of shared methodologies to manage risks challenging heritage. The first step is to check if the current European context enables the creation of a common platform based on a shared definition of heritage. Once such a platform is ready, it would be possible to move on and build a risk management strategy, based on a shared assumption about what assets need to be protected and which level of protection they would require

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion