A 1 · Definitions of heritage
What is heritage? The debate over what constitutes heritage is extremely active, and definitions have become very fluid. Potentially it has come to mean all things to all people. At present there are broadly speaking two principal definitions:
(a) Material culture, handed down from the past and including pre-historical remains and visual culture.
(b) Intangible heritage - in other words, shared identity: whatever people like to think about themselves.
UNESCO definition of the cultural and natural heritage:
‘… the following shall be considered as “cultural heritage”: monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science; groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science; sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.’
‘Memory is vital to creativity: that holds true for individuals and for peoples, who find in their heritage – natural and cultural, tangible and intangible – the key to their identity and the source of their inspiration.’
Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage (Paris 1972)
Council of Europe:
‘All remains and objects and any other traces of humankind from past times are considered elements of the archaeological heritage… The notion of archaeological heritage includes structures, constructions, groups of buildings, developed sites, moveable objects, monuments of other kinds as well as their context, whether situated on land or under water.’
The European Convention on the protection of the archaeological heritage (revised) (Valletta 1992)
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