World Heritage Monument Research Articles

The Study on Socio-Economic Impacts of Tourism in the Golden Triangle of Odisha

The Puri-Konark-Bhubaneswar “Golden Triangle” is not only Odisha's main draw but also has enormous potential as a tourist destination. Odisha, on India's eastern coast, is an auspicious Indian state with numerous opportunities and a wealth of sights to see. The state has many natural and cultural resources, such as its beaches, arts and crafts, temples and monuments, lakes, forests, and wildlife. Millions of worshippers from all over the world visit the temple of Lord Jagannath in Puribecause it is considered one of the holiest of holy dhams in India, alongside the Sun Temple at Konark, the sole World Heritage Monument in all of India. Bhubaneswar, the state capital, is home to a wide variety of well-known tourist attractions, such as the Lingaraj temple, the Rajarani temple “widely regarded as the crowning achievement of Kalingan architecture”, the Jain caves at Khandagiri and Udaygiri, the white tiger breeding grounds at Nandankanan, the site of the Kalingan war at Dhauligiri, and many others besides. Odisha has a lot of potential as a tourist destination, and there are many exciting things to see and do there, but the state has not seen a significant uptick in visitor numbers to match its product. This study mostly focused on a popular travel destination for the “Golden Triangle”. Many people travel to Puri each year to pay their respects to Lord Jagannath because it is considered to be one of the four Dhams. The group travels to Puri, the Sun Temple at Konark, and the Shiva Temple in Bhubaneswar. Since so many people flock to Odisha, the area around Bhubaneswar, Puri, and Konarkhas become known as the “Golden Triangle”.

Evaluation of the antifungal efficiency of biocides currently applied in the Coimbra UNESCO area limestone monuments

The application of biocides to control microbial proliferation in stone materials is nowadays a rather common practice. In the Coimbra´s UNESCO World heritage monuments, biocide treatments rely on the application of Biotin T and Preventol R80. However, the application of these formulations often occurs without the complete knowledge of microbial communities’ susceptibility to their application. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of these compounds and compare them with a commercial version of Ocimum basilicum essential oil, against various fungal species present in these areas. Through the application of in vitro antifungal activity assays, we were able to verify that, in general, Biotin T rather than Preventol R80 was more efficient against all tested fungi. In addition, the commercial version of the Ocimum basilicum essential oil also exhibited good results and might be an alternative option to be taken into consideration in future interventions in these monuments.

Corporate support for sustainable livelihoods

In 2021, Fuzhou, China successfully hosted the extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee. This milestone event not only raised the profile of the nation’s World Heritage monuments, buildings and landscapes, it also highlighted the real benefits they provide for China and its communities.

World Heritage Monuments Management Planning in the light of UN Sustainable Development Goals: The case of the Old Town of Corfu

This paper focuses on the topic of world heritage monuments tourism planning and more specifically at the area of strategic management design, as the integration of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals “SDGs”, described in the Agenda 2030 introduces a wide range of conditions that affect the policy design. With the introduction of Sustainable Goal 11, countries have pledged to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Within this goal, Target 11.4 aims to “strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage”. The main goal of our research is to determine whether a tourism promotion methodology, experientially used in the case of the Old Town of Corfu, may assist in the monitoring of the existing management plan of the site, providing with data and metrics that allow its adaptation according to the 17 SDGs. Our proposed methodology has been applied within the “Hologrammatic Corfu” project, a digital tourist guide designed specifially to enable exploration of the site covering user requirements before, during and after the trip, with the use of transmedia content such as photos, 360-degree videos, augmented reality and hologrammatic videos. Here data collected regarding the travellers’ visits to specific points of interest are actively utilized for dynamic re-rooting during their visit, safeguarding sustainability and accessibility along the entire tourism cycle.

Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of the UNESCO Painted Churches in the Troodos Region (Cyprus)

In the framework of the IH-AT (Invisible Heritage Analysis and Technology) project, a cluster of churches ranging from the 11th to the 16th centuries, located in the Troodos Mountain range of Cyprus, designated by UNESCO as World Heritage monuments, were investigated using Non-Destructive-Techniques (NDT) (geophysical and topographic survey), 3D modelling and visualisation methods, contextualised and interpreted by art-historical and archaeological research. A geophysical survey, performed using a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), specifically aimed to confirm the presence or absence of buried features of archaeological interest at each of these sites, in particular, evidence of monastic complexes and buildings that used to surround preserved churches. This paper describes the preliminary results of this survey and some initial interpretations concerning what new information can be discerned about the now lost monastery complexes, in advance of future excavation.

Divriği Hospital - Medieval Healing Venue and Its Acoustic Characteristics

Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital as one of the World heritage monuments on UNESCO’s list was the subject of research. More precisely, the focus was on the architecture and the acoustic characteristics of the hospital built in 1228/1229 by Mengüjeck dynasty, a branch of Anatolian Seljuks. For the analysis purposes, a 3D model of the hospital was created, and the acoustic simulation was conducted. The results of the acoustic analysis show that the architectural characteristics of the hospital fulfill the acoustic standards for the good reception of the sound for the audience, and that it can be concluded that Divriği hospital venue supports the hypothesis of being suitable for the healing purposes. Hospital was designed to support the sound realization and to support the environmental soundscape in conjunction with the sounding makams, which supports the music therapy healing effect. It can be concluded that music therapy had acoustical support in the construction of Anatolian Seljuk hospitals, which have characteristics of concert halls and were built as acoustic (music) venues.

Sea Defence Project and a UNESCO World Heritage Monument in Coastal Ghana

Coastal erosion, sand and gravel mining, and open defecation threaten the sustainability and outstanding universal value (OUV) of heritage monuments dotted along the coast of Ghana. A sea defence project has been embarked upon in some areas in Ghana to, among other reasons, safeguard coastal resources, including the historic heritage monuments—castles and forts. This study examined the implications of the project for the sustainability and OUV of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) along the Ghanaian coastline. The study used a qualitative research design. In‐depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to collect data from key stakeholders and analyzed using the thematic method. It became evident that the project has helped reduce oceanic effects, sand and gravel mining hazards, and open defecation in the direct neighbourhood of the site. These have increased the resilience and protective capacity of the monument and enhanced the aesthetic value and sanitation at the site, thereby shoring up the integrity and authenticity of the site and culminating in its enhanced sustainability and OUV. UNESCO, the State Party, Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Municipal Authority, and Community Leaders should ensure that the advantages that have accrued to the site from the sea defence project are safeguarded and maximized. Additionally, the project should be extended to other coastal areas in the country where similar monuments are located to enable those monuments to derive similar benefits for sustainable development. The study contributes to understanding the protective and aesthetic nexus between coastal engineering and sustainable coastal heritage management.

Living Heritage in the Urban Landscape. Case Study of the Budapest World Heritage Site Andrássy Avenue

Historic allées and urban avenues reflect a far-sighted and forward-thinking design attitude. These compositions are the living witnesses of olden times, suggesting permanence. However, the 20th century’s urban development severely damaged the environment, therefore hundred-year-old mature trees are relatively rare among city avenues’ stands. Due to the deteriorated habitat conditions, replantation may be necessary from time to time. However, there are a large number of replanted allées and urban avenues considered historical monuments, according to the relevant international literature in urban and living heritage’s preservation. The renewal often results in planting a different, urban tolerant taxon, as seen in several examples reviewed. Nevertheless, the allée remains an essential urban structural element, though often with a changed character. The Budapest Andrássy Avenue, a city and nature connection defined in the late 19th century’s urban landscape planning, aimed to offer a splendid link between city core and nature in Városliget Public Park. The 19–20th century’s history and urban development are well documented in Hungarian and several English publications, though current tree stock stand and linear urban green infrastructure as part of the urban landscape need a detailed survey. The site analyses ran in 2020–early 2021 created a basis for assessing the allées and the whole avenue as an urban ecosystem and a valuable case study of contemporary heritage protection problems. Andrassy Avenue, the unique urban fabric, architecture, and promenades have been a world heritage monument of cultural value since 2002. The allées became endangered despite reconstruction type maintenance efforts. The presented survey analyses the living heritage’s former renewal programs and underlines the necessity of new reconstruction concepts in urban heritage protection. We hypothesize that urban green infrastructure development, the main issue in the 21st century to improve the urban ecological system and human liveability, may support heritage protection. The Budapest World Heritage Site is worthwhile for a complex renewal where the urban green ecosystem supply and liveable, pedestrian-friendly urban open space system are at the forefront to recall the once glorious, socially and aesthetically attractive avenue.

Authenticiteit, een geloofwaardig begrip?

In het sluitstuk van diverse bijdragen in dit nummer over authenticiteit wordt de vraag gesteld of authenticiteit als begrip geloofwaardig is. Dit gebeurt aan de hand van de betekenis die authenticiteit heeft voor monumenten op de UNESCO Werelderfgoedlijst. Monumenten met het predikaat werelderfgoed hebben volgens de Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention van UNESCO ‘Outstanding Universal Values’ (OUV). Tevens beantwoorden ze aan de eis van integriteit en authenticiteit, in ieder geval waar het cultureel erfgoed betreft. In navolging van The Nara Document on Authenticity (1994), en rekening houdend met de mondiale culturele diversiteit, kan de authenticiteit gebaseerd zijn op een grote variëteit aan eigenschappen.
 Twee Nederlandse werelderfgoedmonumenten, het Rietveld Schröderhuis (1924) en de Van Nellefabriek (1925-1931), behoren tot de architectuur van de Moderne Beweging. In de nominatiedossiers van deze twee monumenten wordt authenticiteit verschillend beargumenteerd. In beide gevallen is, zoals bij monumenten uit de Moderne Beweging zeer gangbaar is geworden, de ‘ontwerpauthenticiteit’ echter van groot belang. Is het begrip authenticiteit dan zodanig verbreed dat het uiteindelijk willekeurig wordt toegepast? Volgens de auteur kan authenticiteit zeker een kwaliteitskenmerk zijn, als er maar binnen de eigen culturele context een duidelijke en geloofwaardige definitie wordt gehanteerd.

Functionality of public spaces in historical urban layouts as based on Zamość and Lwów. Comparative analysis of selected components of city spaces in the context of the development and propagation/ promotion of Zamość and Lwów.

Development of cities sprouts from human potential. By limiting, restricting access to public spaces for people of every age, perceptive or motoric ability, the prospects of fruitful, inspirational encounter, forging friendship or fall in love become downrightly limited. Sameness is stagnant. Diversity brings to a city constant movement. Polish Language Dictionary defines ‘’functionality’’ (‘’funkcjonalność’’) as ‘’useful, helpful, ergonomic, efficient’’ which in relation to public space design refers to sufficient space for approach and use, convenient dimensions, operational simplicity and precise purpose of the place. Cities such as Zamość, with clearly defined, planned urban structure, pose a great challenge to designers in terms of balancing innovative, practicable architectural facilities that would not interfere with historical substance of a world heritage monument. In other words, designing in a historical centre is like walking on thin ice with the risk of distorting the integrity and original outlook of the centre.
 Zamość is a unique example of a Renaissance town designed at the end of the 16th century which retained its original urban/ communication layout, fortification system and a great amount of important buildings that combine both Italian and middle – European building practices.

Nippon Paint buys the largest paint companies in Australia & Turkey

This work is focused on materials that can provide solutions to biodeterioration by synthesizing hygienic paints with antimicrobial additives, such as Ag inclusion in silica-based materials. The protection of different World Heritage Monuments is taken as an example. The link between humanistic disciplines and the natural sciences is suggested as a way to better appreciate human's surrounding environment and to better connecting different worldviews.

The CIS libraries’ preserving cultural heritage: Regulations and documents

The author speculates on the international cooperation in preservation of the world and national cultural heritage and book monuments. She argues that the CIS libraries make the global and national cultural heritage as they perform the memorial, information and educational activities. International, regional and national regulation documents along with the information technologies and multimedia make the basis for preservation and accessibility of cultural monuments. The UNESCO and CIS conventions determine the general principles, approaches and rules of international cooperation in the cultural monuments preservation and management. Preservation and Conservation and Memory of the World programs are intended, above all, to educate staff, to develop standards, guides and methods. The essential conditions to preserve book monuments are specified: implementation of new technologies, hard- and software, cooperation with foreign libraries, museums and archives. The activities of the Eurasian Library Assembly Preservation and Conservation section is reviewed, as well as the model law on book monuments developed within the framework of the CIS Library Code.

Exfoliation microcracks in building granite. Implications for anisotropy

Granite is found in many world heritage monuments and cities. It continues to be one of the most widely used stones in today's construction, given its abundance, uniformity and durability. Quarrymen traditionally cut this rock along its orthogonal slip planes, where splitting is easier. Ranked by ease of splitting, these planes are rift, grain and hardway. Granite is traditionally quarried along the rift plane where coplanar exfoliation microcracks coalesce developing a flat surface. This splitting surface minimizes the cost and effort of subsequent hewing. Rift plane was predominantly used on the fair face of ashlars in heritage buildings worldwide. Determining the petrographic and petrophysical behaviour of these three orthogonal splitting planes in granite is instrumental to understanding decay in ashlars and sculptures. The decay of building granite is different in each splitting plane.Alpedrete granite was the stone selected for this study based on the orientation and distribution of exfoliation microcracks and the characterisation of their implications for the anisotropy of petrophysical properties such as ultrasonic wave propagation, capillarity, air permeability, micro-roughness and surface hardness. Inter- and intracrystalline microcrack length and spacing were also measured and quantified.The findings show that the splitting planes in Alpedrete granite are determined by the orientation of exfoliation microcracks, which as a rule are generally straight and intracrystalline and determine the anisotropy of the petrophysical properties analysed.Splitting planes are the orientation that should be applied when performing laboratory tests for the petrographic and petrophysical properties of building granite.

Regulatory Management of the Setting of Historic Assets: Lower Leighton Mega-dairy – A Case Study from Wales

The effective public service delivery of the regulatory management of the built historic environment in the U.K. is primarily based on the planning system. The setting of heritage assets is just one specific aspect of consideration for assessing the impact of proposed development but it is relevant to all assets, whether World Heritage Sites, buildings, monuments or landscapes. All heritage assets have a setting. This area has, in the past, been given comparatively little consideration within the tools and guidance available to practising heritage professionals but new and forthcoming guidance and legislation in the U.K. may go some way to addressing this. There are, however, aspects of assessment and analysis which deserve further consideration, especially from a practitioner’s viewpoint. This paper seeks to explore these aspects through examining a high-profile case study from Wales, chosen because of the author’s personal involvement in the case, the wide range of assets involved, and the interesting outcomes. This study helps to identify where universally applicable lessons can be learnt and will perhaps further inform the future development of informative, relevant and practical regulatory management documents, policies and tools.

Municipal solid waste and dung cake burning: discoloring the Taj Mahal and human health impacts in Agra

The Taj Mahal—an iconic World Heritage monument built of white marble—has become discolored with time, due, in part, to high levels of particulate matter (PM) soiling its surface (Bergin et al 2015 Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 808–812). Such discoloration has required extensive and costly treatment (2015 Two Hundred Sixty Second Report on Effects of Pollution on Taj Parliament of India Rajya Sabha, New Delhi) and despite previous interventions to reduce pollution in its vicinity, the haze and darkening persists (Bergin et al 2015 Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 808–812; 2015 Two Hundred Sixty Second Report on Effects of Pollution on Taj Parliament of India Rajya Sabha, New Delhi). PM responsible for the soiling has been attributed to a variety of sources including industrial emissions, vehicular exhaust and biomass burning, but the contribution of the emissions from the burning of open municipal solid waste (MSW) may also play an important role. A recent source apportionment study of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at the Taj Mahal showed biomass burning emissions, which would include MSW emissions, accounted for nearly 40% of organic matter (OM)—a component of PM—deposition to its surface (Bergin et al 2015 Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 808–812); dung cake burning, used extensively for cooking in the region, was the suggested culprit and banned within the city limits (2015 Two Hundred Sixty Second Report on Effects of Pollution on Taj Parliament of India Rajya Sabha, New Delhi), although the burning of MSW, a ubiquitous practice in the area (Nagpure et al 2015 Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 12904–12), may play a more important role in local air quality. Using spatially detailed emission estimates and air quality modeling, we find that open MSW burning leads to about 150 (±130) mg m−2 yr−1 of PM2.5 being deposited to the surface of the Taj Mahal compared to about 12 (±3.2) mg m−2 yr−1 from dung cake burning. Those two sources, combined, also lead to an estimated 713 (377–1050) premature mortalities in Agra each year, dominated by waste burning in socioeconomically lower status neighborhoods. An effective MSW management strategy would reduce soiling of the Taj Mahal, improve human health, and have additional aesthetic benefits.

Geotechnical characterization of limestones employed for the reconstruction of a UNESCO world heritage Baroque monument in southeastern Sicily (Italy)

A detailed laboratory characterization of limestones employed for the reconstruction of Saint Nicholas Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage monument in southeastern Sicily, is presented herein with the purpose of achieving a complete knowledge on the behavior of such rocks under stress, whose engineering geological aspect had not been investigated before for scientific purposes. Specimens were sampled at three sites, where this rock is quarried from two lithofacies of the same geological formation, and are similar to other limestone varieties quarried worldwide and employed as construction material. Although slight differences between the samples occur at a macroscopic scale, geotechnical tests highlighted relevant differences from the physical and mechanical points of view. In order to look for one or more factors responsible of such dissimilarities, a statistical analysis was carried out and interesting outcomes were achieved with the help of a microscopic analysis of the specimens. Moreover, attention was paid on the modes of failure of tested specimens under compression, whose attitude was described and correlated to selected properties of the rock. Results have both a practical implication, because of the employment of this rock type as engineering material worldwide, and a scientific relevance, due to the peculiar behavior that such rock offered under stress.

Cover Image, Volume 99, Issue 1

Detail of “Massacre des Innocents”, a stained glass (1150) from the western facade of the cathedral of Chartres (France), a UNESCO World Heritage monument. Of Romanesque style, it is among the oldest stained glasses preserved in the present building. It illustrates the “blue of Chartres”, a color originating from the presence of tetrahedral Co2+ and Fe2+ as reinforced by reducing fabrication conditions. See article ‘Spectroscopic Investigation of the Coloration and Fabrication Conditions of Medieval Blue Glasses’ by Myrtille Hunault et al. Photo courtesy Michel Herold‐Centre André Chastel.image

Characterization of failure modes and planned stabilization measures for the Ajanta caves in India

The Ajanta caves are classified as a UNESCO World-heritage monument, where ancient Buddhist rock-cut caves from the Second Century BC to 6th Century AD are found. The caves were carved manually in Basaltic rock mass in the Deccan trap basaltic flow of the Ajanta Formation of the Sahyadri Group in the Upper Cretaceous age. In the Ajanta caves, the hillside slopes are predominantly covered by surface boulders. Boulder dislocations caused by long-term rock mass deterioration, distressing, water percolation and weathering for a strike length of 600m, and a height of 75m; are a major concern when considering the safety of both visitors and site personnel, as well as with regard to the preservation of the historic UNESCO World Heritage site. This study was carried out to assess and characterize the formation of boulders with possible stabilization measures to be planned of a boulder field and slope surface is described and discussed herewith. The possible geological mode of development of the boulder field, rock mass characterization of slope, boulder stabilization philosophy is presented herewith along with planned various stabilization measures considering the esthetic value of the World Heritage site at Ajanta.

ROŞIA MONTANĂ, ROMANIA: INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN SITU, BETWEEN PRESERVATION, CONTROVERSY AND CULTURAL RECOGNITION

The first aim of this article is to present a comprehensive analysis of industrial heritage ‘in situ’, highlighting the cultural and technological importance of the Roşia Montană archaeological site. This is an ancient gold-mining area, exploited since the Iron Age, and the site is one of the most representative of Romania in terms of cultural patrimony, with elements of mining heritage, vernacular architecture, archaeological remains from Roman period. The documentation has been drafted for the inclusion of the Roşia Montană archaeological mining site on the UNESCO World Heritage monuments tentative list; this is currently being assessed by the Romanian Ministry of Culture. The second aim of the article is to anticipate the impact of the resumption of extractive activity by a Canadian company. This situation is one of the most controversial topics in Romanian society, as a result of the response to the negative impact of mining, including the pollution of surface waters with cyanide and the flooding of an entire village, along with its valuable cultural heritage.

The Early Medieval Antonine Wall

AbstractArchaeological fieldwork in the Forth-Clyde isthmus has been dominated by the World Heritage Monument of the Antonine Wall, the Roman frontier built in the second centurya.d. Considerably less attention has been given to the evidence for post-Roman experience of the Wall and how it was remembered (and forgotten) in the subsequent centuries. This paper will briefly summarise historical notices of the Antonine Wall, then consider the archaeological and toponymic evidence for early medieval occupation. The role of the Forth-Clyde isthmus as a political frontier is shown to be less significant to our understanding of this period than the evidence for mobility, memory and the contested legacy of Rome in early medieval Scotland.