Cultural Heritage Property Research Articles

What is OUV? Defining the Outstanding Universal Value of Cultural World Heritage Properties

What is OUV? Defining the Outstanding Universal Value of Cultural World Heritage Properties

Conservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage in Indonesia: A Review Current National Criteria for Assessing Heritage Value

National criteria for assessing Indonesian cultural heritage properties are mentioned in Article five under the Law 11/2010 on Cultural Property. In general, the four criteria are not much different from the previous legislation, the Law 5/1992. National criteria serve as a guide in determining the criteria for provincial and municipal level. This paper aims to review the national criteria based on opinions of 33 respondents (local people from various professions), who have an interest in heritage conservation, through semi-structured interviews and nominal group technique (NGT). The results of the study highlighted the crucial need of involving community in reviewing current national criteria, to improve assessment criteria for cultural heritage values. Besides, it would support national, provincial and municipal governments in drafting new regulations as a guideline for practice of heritage conservation regarding the Law 11/2010, which until today most have not been published.

The Perceived Authenticity of Iconic Heritage Sites in Urban Tourism: the Case of Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa

Cultural heritage sites play multiple roles in the development of urban tourism. Amongst these roles, the authentic properties of cultural heritage generate a sense of place, are the main source of authentic tourist experience and assume an important role in reaffirming cultural and national identity. This paper provides a contribution to authenticity discourse both theoretically and empirically. The study examines and re-evaluates the main sources of authenticity of tourist experience generated from South African iconic places which serve a dual function, as ‘must-see’ tourist attractions and as places of new post-1994 national African identity building. The focus is the Constitution Hill heritage site in Johannesburg. The research explores how authentic is the individual tourist experience of the site and whether differences exist in the way domestic and international tourists perceive the authenticity of the iconic place as representative of new South African identity. The results show that the majority of tourists perceive the place as authentic and derive an authentic experience from the visit. No statistically significant differences are observed between the experience of domestic versus international tourists’ experience of the site which was measured by four variables of authentic experience, namely, attraction, attention, outcomes and feelings.

World Heritage management: boundary-making at Angkor Archaeological Park, Cambodia

A World Heritage (WH) designation requires that international obligations to protect and conserve pre-eminent natural and cultural heritage properties be implemented at a local level. As part of this obligation to protect, each WH property needs to be demarcated in space (or bounded). While there is a large literature relating to the efficacy of protected area management from a wide variety of perspectives which include, but are not limited to, tourism, livelihood and dislocation issues, this paper argues that further studies that specifically assess the significance and/or relevance of WH property boundary-making from a local perspective are required to aid WH site management. Using the Angkor Archaeological Park WH property in Cambodia as a case study, this paper documents local perceptions about WH boundaries, and demonstrates that, in this example, there is a discrepancy between local expectations and the official designation of the spatial extent for the heritage property. Moreover, it is argued that the unique circumstances surrounding the listing of Angkor resulted in rigid boundaries that lack local resonance and that continue to create challenges for local people and the management authority. Although Angkor's circumstances are inimitable, there are wider lessons that can be drawn from this example about the efficacy of WH and protected area ‘boundary-making'.

Digital preservation of cultural heritage resources and manuscripts: An Indian government initiative

Cultural heritage is the symbolic presence that integrates the history, traditions and culture of a country, and while it is an irreplaceable source of pride for that country's people, it also possesses a universal value that can touch all people around the world. There are numerous properties of precious tangible and intangible cultural heritage currently placed at risk. This paper examines the potential for preserving Indian’s cultural heritage resources in a digital world and making it globally accessible. The paper discusses the initiatives taken by Indian government for digital preservation of cultural heritage resources and manuscripts.

Sovereign Immunity and the Enforcement of International Cultural Property Law

The present paper examines the intersection of the law of State immunity and cultural property issues. The primary interest in undertaking this investigation lies in the fact that, while immunity from seizure and other measures of constraint aims to protect and further the cultural and educational function of State cultural heritage property, immunity from jurisdiction (understood stricto sensu as immunity from suit) may bar legitimate restitution claims brought by individuals who have been unlawfully dispossessed of cultural objects. Therefore, a clear-cut and comprehensive solution to the problems raised by the expanding litigation in this area is not forthcoming. Customary and treaty obligations in the field of cultural heritage, such as the duty to return stolen cultural objects, are inconclusive in that regard and stand in the background as the reference materials guiding the analysis. What seems most needed is instead a wide-ranging balancing exercise that takes into account all of the values, interests and circumstances at stake in art-and-immunity cases. Obviously, this assumes that State immunity for jure imperii acts, such as the expropriation of property in times of armed conflict, should not be regarded as a dogma of contemporary international law. On the contrary, it is submitted that factors such as the alternative remedies available to dispossessed individuals or the commission of egregious breaches of human rights by the defendant State may well have a bearing on the enjoyment of sovereign immunity.

Turkish Vet System for Technical Staff in Architectural Conservation

Technical staff in architectural conservation field acts as a key person who -within the universal conservation approach- brings the decisions of the experts to the worksite to orient and supervise the craftsmen and also who addresses the technical issues and problems at the worksite to the expert specialists. The vocational education and training of technical staff is crucial for the preservation of the authentic properties of cultural heritage. The study analyses the formal institutes of VET for architectural conservation in Turkey in order to suggest more comprehensive methods to train the required technical staff for the field.

Public cultural heritage properties enhancement and reuse strategies

The sale and the granting of long-term licence to let private stakeholders use public buildings often lead to changes in the buildings’ use, requiring compliance with new needs. Reuse choices are often taken without a large-scale enhancing strategy concerning physical, economic and social context. Therefore it is necessary to define evaluation patterns to support the choices of the operators involved in the privatization process, in order to preserve the values of the assets and to guarantee the land’s development trends. The paper shows a method set to guide both local and central governments – as owners of cultural heritage properties – and public departments – performing control activities on cultural heritage management – in deciding new uses for buildings.

A new paradigm for the identification, nomination and inscription of properties on the World Heritage List

This paper reviews the current procedure for identifying and listing cultural and natural heritage properties under UNESCO’s 1972 World Heritage Convention, analyses its shortcomings and posits a new approach. It contends that the extant process is contrary to the real intent of the Convention of identifying and conserving heritage of outstanding universal value through a system of international cooperation and, therefore, it does not contribute effectively to realising a representative, balanced and credible World Heritage List. The paper advances a new paradigm to overcome the assessed limitations, principally by enhancing international cooperation to marshal and provide the best technical knowledge upstream of and throughout the process of identifying, nominating and including properties on the World Heritage List. It envisages a progressive inscription process with an enhanced and proactive role for the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee to prioritise, at an early stage of the process, sites meriting inclusion on the World Heritage List, thus enabling it to effectively guide the achievement of the Global Strategy for the World Heritage programme.

Intangible Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Property. Communities, Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development

Intangible Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Property. Communities, Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development

Final Document from the Regional Workshop: “The Protection and Safeguard of Cultural Heritage Property of the Church of Latin America and the Caribbean”

From 29th September to 1st October, a workshop was organized in Mexico City by UNESCO on the theme, “The Protection and Safeguard of Cultural Heritage Property of the Church of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

CULTURAL PROPERTY AS STRATEGY The Carnival of Binche, the Creation of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Property

The concept of cultural property is often discussed in the sphere of international policy with critical dimension of neglected rights of local actors. This paper deals with local strategies of labelling a tradition as cultural property of a specific community by reconstructing the historical dimension of a local property regime. Cultural property is thus analysed as a cultural technique at its own right that produces powerful local hierarchies and that refers to both material and symbolic dimensions. The carnival of Binche with its long history of metacultural operations shows how tradition is used as a local resource in a reflexive society and how local actors integrate new legal instruments into their understanding and management of a traditional practice. 1 .

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Climate Change and World Heritage

The impacts of climate change are posing challenges for governments and policy makers globally and at a domestic level. The threats posed by climate change to World Heritage properties are increasingly a matter of concern to States Parties to the World Heritage Convention 1972 which establishes an international legal framework for the protection of natural and cultural world heritage. This article examines the extent to which the World Heritage Convention provides an effective legal framework for the protection of natural and cultural heritage properties inscribed on the World Heritage List and considers the actual and potential impacts of climate change on World Heritage sites, the legal obligations upon States Parties under the Convention relating to climate change and World Heritage, the mechanisms that are available under the Convention to deal with climate change impacts and the need to identify synergies between the Convention and other international agreements that deal with climate change.

Legal Concepts of Cultural Heritage Property

Property is one of the most intuitively natural of all legal concepts, as anyone who has watched two children contending over a toy can attest. It is also one of the most useful. Without it, there could be no bank accounts, no markets, no inheritance, and no security in one’s home. Almost every material thing in life depends on the invention and elaboration of the idea and laws of property. The important qualifier is the term “almost.” We all know that there are the obvious exceptions where ordinary proprietary rules do not and should not apply, such as in human . . .

Artwork, Cultural Heritage Property, and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Recent developments in U.S. case law have strengthened the power of private individuals to sue foreign sovereigns in U.S. courts over claims for artwork and cultural heritage property. Traditionally, however, the U.S. government granted a large amount of deference to foreign sovereigns regarding ownership rights in such property. Principles such as grace and comity with other nations, respect for cultural heritage property ownership, and increasing public access to art are reflected in U.S. legislation. For example, the adoption of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA), the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) all demonstrate a strong position held by the United States to recognize and protect ownership rights in cultural heritage property.

Cultural heritage conservation during emergency management: luxury or necessity?

Annually, natural disasters cause loss of life, damage to property, and damage to the environment. Concomitant is damage to the cultural heritage property, both items and places. Yet in the wake of a disaster, containment and response efforts put additional cultural resources at risk--usually due to ignorance rather than malice on the part of the disaster manager or the property owners. This paper reviews the effects of natural disasters on heritage sites and argues for increased awareness and training for disaster managers.

World Monuments Watch 1996–97: Lessons from the First Cycle

The World Monuments Watch list of endangered cultural heritage properties has taken a broad approach to the problem of identifying and classifying conservation challenges worldwide through case studies and advocacy. Sites are ultimately listed based on their competitiveness in three categories of critical review: significance of the base resource, urgency of primary threats, and viability of the proposed response to those threats. After one full cycle of activity, including nomination, selection, grant administration and project implementation, a number of important patterns of interest to cultural resource managers emerge: many sites suffer from antipathy or misunderstanding on the part of presumed caretakers as much as physical deterioration; urgency of threats must be weighed against the nature of the resource and the thresholds of feasible repair; government agencies are increasingly unable to meet the demands of conserving the entire corpus of their national patrimony, and increasingly require material assistance from the private sector; and solutions that acknowledge the need for public/private partnerships in problem solving tend to be the most successful.

Biological colonization and deterioration of mortars by phototrophic organisms

In the last years, considerable studies on the effect of phototrophic organisms (cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, mosses and vascular plants) on cultural heritage properties have been carried out. The data indicate that these organisms, instead of having an irrelevant role, actively participate in the deteriorating processes of artificial building materials. This paper reviews recent research on mortar colonization and biodeterioration.

Is Anyone Minding Stonehenge--The Origins of Cultural Property Protection in England

This Article is the second in the author's ongoing series of articles on cultural property protection. In this Article, the author examines the genesis of preservation policies in the United Kingdom. The midto late eighteenth century witnessed a development boom that threatened many of the ancient ruins of England. Sir John Lubbock introduced a bill in Parliament to provide for the preservation of such ancient monuments. The author traces the history of this bill, thoughtfully exploring the origins of the concepts of cultural heritage property. Specifically, Lubbock's goal was responsible stewardship by proprietors and the government, and his views were eventually vindicated in legislation enacted to protect ancient monuments.