ancient cities

194 Cultural Heritage
future generations. Modern interest in heritage
was founded on a sense of history as a narrative of
progress and a romantic nostalgia for the past.
Other motivations for conservation included a
respect for past achievements and a desire to learn
from the past.
Value of Cultural Heritage
Cultural heritage was once defined as the structures
or artifacts (such as the Parthenon in Athens)
that expressed the highest attainment of a civilization.
Increasingly, groups of buildings and parts of
the city in which the site is located and the beliefs
and practices that give meaning to the place are
considered part of a cultural landscape and thus
valuable heritage as, for instance, with the palaces
and temples of Lhasa in Tibet. From single monuments,
protection for cultural heritage has expanded
to include historic districts and territories. In addition,
preservation efforts have moved from concentrating
solely on the structures of the powerful
and wealthy to an appreciation of their interconnectedness
to the vernacular fabric in which they
are situated. Gardens, open spaces, streets, festivals,
folk music and dance, and religious and artistic
practices are the connective tissue that binds
the built world into an organic whole. Even the
remains of mines and mining settlements have
achieved heritage status in recent years in the
United Kingdom and in Japan. Of course, not
everything that has been or should be inherited
from the past can be preserved. A society faced
with the burden of caretaking heritage has to
decide what heritage is to be retained.
The value of cultural heritage is in the significance
that society attaches to it. Hence, the worth
of cultural heritage is socially constructed. People
imbue the physical structures or spaces with cultural
meanings, and religious traditions are often
at the root of these meanings. The Richtersveld
cultural landscape in South Africa, home of the
semi-nomadic Nama people, is significant not for
any grand monuments but for reflecting seasonal
patterns that may have persisted for over two millennia.
The Nama oral traditions mark places and
the attributes of their landscape rich with spiritual
meanings. Heritage structures and sites mean different
things to different people, and their interpretation
is often contested by different ethnic,
religious, or national groups. The old city of
Jerusalem is a striking example of the disputes
among several meanings and groups.
Cultural heritage can become an icon for a community,
a city, or a nation and, as such, can be a
tool for political or ethnic assertion. War-time
crimes have historically focused on the destruction
of targeted cultural property. In recent years, the
bombing of the fourth-century statues of Buddha
by the Taliban in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, or the
devastation of significant parts of Dubrovnik in
Croatia during the Balkan wars demonstrate the
symbolic power of cultural heritage. Preservation
then becomes an effort at preserving cultural
uniqueness as well as cultural identity.
Histories of war and contestation, such as the
heritage of European colonial rule in Asia and
Africa, are often problematic in the celebration of
nationhood and national narratives. The cultural
heritage of apartheid, the holocaust, and genocide
cannot be ignored because they are distasteful
reminders of conflict and aggression, nor can they
be represented only from the perspective of the rulers
or the perpetrators. The Genbaku Dome in
Hiroshima in Japan, the site of the first atomic
bomb explosion in a city, is also an expression of
hope for world peace.
Rise of Institutionalized Protection
The modern conservation movement found its first
expression in eighteenth-century Europe with an
emphasis on Greek and Roman antiquities. It collected
historical works of art and artifacts and
placed them in museums. Gradually, this led to
government control of designated sites and the
establishment of norms and legislation for the care
and administration of selected heritage properties.
The idea of protecting cultural heritage came to
the forefront during the nineteenth century with
the rise of the nation-state, the losses due to frequent
wars, and rapid industrialization. Eugène
Viollet-le-Duc, John Ruskin, and William Morris
were among the intellectuals who influenced the
preservation of heritage. In North America, historic
preservation began as a philanthropic effort
by elite groups such as the Mt. Vernon Ladies
Association, which in 1859 consisted of wellto-do,
Anglo-Saxon women. Since then, in North
America and in Western Europe, preservation has