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Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Ripa Pannonica in Hungary (RPH) Nomination statement
5.i Policies and Programmes Related to the Presentation
and Promotion of the Property
The Basic Principles for the Presentation Concept of the Roman Limes – Ripa Pannonica –
in Hungary
Due to geographic and other features of the individual sites within the full World Heritage site, which is
made up of a series of major sections between the current international borders, they can have significantly
differing conditions. Therefore it is genuinely justified and necessary, for example in relation to their
exhibition, to create solutions that are appropriate for the given section.
A fundamental characteristic of the sections of the limes along a river is that the defensive system was not
continuous in a physical sense or connected in a manner like a constructed linear defensive system such as
a wall, palisade, etc. In accordance with this, one of the greatest challenges in relation to its presentation
is to resolve the issue of while dealing with a concrete section, an element of the defensive system, the
visitor should sense or at least understand that it is at the same time an integral portion of a greater whole.
In consideration of this, the conception for its presentation must strive to make each portion/element
precisely and clearly identifiable as to where it fits into the whole, what connections it has (had) and
what role it played. All of this can and must be achieved utilizing a unified system of information and
orientation (including the use of terms, pictograms and overall design).
The fragmentary nature and minor amount of remains surviving within the individual defensive elements
may cause particularly large problems in making this interdependence clear. Despite this, or to compensate
for it, efforts must be made in the case of exhibited portions that when possible the presentation of the
given part should not suggest its self-contained, closed nature, but should do just the opposite, always
indicate its interconnectedness. In relation to this, the watch towers play a particular role, since in their
original position or setting they functioned as points along the line of the limes stretching along the
Danube. One aspect and role of their presentation is to establish a connection to the neighboring watch
tower exhibits, by at least indicating their direction and distance.
The possibilities for presentation are influenced to a great degree by the conditions determined by their
urban or rural location, the extent of development on the site, agricultural cultivation and accessibility.
When considering the essence of the conception their intelligibility, interpretability and integration into
the overall whole should be asserted.
In deciding which of the elements of the Hungarian section of the limes that have been verified as existing
and are contained in the nominated property can and need to be exhibited in addition to being preserved
and managed, the decisive factors are the immediate conditions of their setting understood in the widest
sense, as well as the role they play in achieving the “threshold of integrity” in the authentic appearance of
the limes.
Exhibition, while not entirely the same as accessibility and being open to visitors, is however closely related
to them. In accordance with this, the conceptual aspect of presentation includes the idea that it should
occur if possible in logical sections. Certain elements located within present-day towns and/or related
elements in the former defensive system can and must be organized into presentation sections such as this.
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