Cultural heritage is a way of life that a community has inherited from previous generations and that it passes on to the next generation. It includes traditional activities, practices, languages, customs, artistic expressions and values.
There are many ways to preserve and manage these artifacts for future generations. However, determining the value of cultural goods can be a difficult task.
Definition
A cultural heritage is a way of life a society has inherited from previous generations. It includes cultural sites, monuments, folklore, traditional activities, practices, languages, customs and artistic expressions.
It is a system of values and beliefs that define a people’s behaviour patterns and lifestyle. It also provides a sense of identity for the members of a particular society.
Cultural heritage is a complex concept, because it encompasses many facets of human culture. It reflects the diversity of human experiences, traditions and beliefs, both past and present, in the world.
Significance
Cultural heritage is the collection of beliefs, customs, languages and traditions that a society has inherited from previous generations. It includes sites, monuments, folklore, traditional activities, practices, artistic expressions, values and other things that UNESCO considers important to preserve for future generations.
It is an essential part of human activity. It produces tangible representations of the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles of a community (ICOMOS, 2002).
Meaning
Cultural heritage is the sum total of a community’s way of life – its beliefs, customs, language and arts. It includes items of both physical and spiritual value, from awe-inspiring architecture to kiln-fired pottery.
This is not a static collection of objects; instead, it is an ever-changing jigsaw puzzle that requires careful management and preservation. This means a lot of planning, budgeting and juggling. It’s also not a one-time event; it needs to be a continuous process in order to ensure that the future has something worth seeing and experiencing. Fortunately, it can be done in a sustainable way. For example, UNESCO has launched the UNESCO World Heritage programme to protect and promote the world’s outstanding examples of culture, history, art and nature. More information can be found on their website.
Value
Cultural heritage is a group’s “culture” (its way of life). It is comprised of both material and immaterial elements, such as traditions, oral history, performing arts, traditional craftsmanship, representations, rituals and knowledge transmitted from generation to generation.
This heritage is valued in the present for its ability to connect people to the past and help us understand our past. It is also an important social capital, which gives communities a sense of identity.
As with any asset, the value of a cultural heritage resource is dependent on its specific characteristics, which can be assessed through comparisons with similar assets. However, as UNESCO has pointed out in its Operational Guidelines, market value and heritage value are not synonymous.
Valuation
Cultural heritage is a dizzying array of traditions, oral history, performing arts, social practices, traditional craftsmanship, representations, rituals, knowledge and skills transmitted from generation to generation within a community.
The emergence of the concept of cultural heritage is rooted in long historical development that involved different values being attached to monuments, buildings, works of art, artifacts, landscapes and so on. Such objects and places were valued for their significance and were therefore protected or conserved.
In the contemporary world, societal value perspectives have been more prevalent than before in both heritage conservation practice and policy. These perspectives seek to better understand the social functions and benefits of heritage, but also confront limitations in the way that heritage values are interpreted or used (Mason 1999).