Cultural heritage is all the things that are part of your culture and tradition. It can include art and monuments, but also towns and other buildings.
It can also include beliefs and traditions. But it is important to not keep negative or false traditions.
Sustainable cultural heritage helps communities become stewards of their monuments, languages, and traditions. This way they can share their heritage with others and generate economic benefits from tourism.
Definition
When we hear the term cultural heritage, we usually think of art (paintings, drawings, prints, mosaics, sculptures), historical monuments and buildings, and archaeological sites. But it goes much further than this. Cultural heritage encompasses those tangible representations of a community’s values, beliefs, and traditions that are worth passing on to future generations.
It also includes non-physical attributes of a culture, such as language, dance, customs, and beliefs. These intangible forms are often more difficult to protect, as they cannot be regulated like the physical objects can.
The definition of cultural heritage is a complex concept that has experienced typological and thematic expansion, and a change in selection criteria. Today, cultural heritage is defined as those “cultural expressions and practices recognized by communities, groups or individuals as their cultural heritage,” which are “of outstanding universal value”. This reflects the recognition of cultural diversity as well as the fact that not all cultural expressions are equally valuable.
Meaning
Cultural heritage is an essential part of a person’s identity and provides a sense of belonging. It also preserves history and allows people to feel connected to their ancestors. However, that doesn’t mean that people should live every aspect of their culture if it isn’t serving them. For instance, if there are traditions or beliefs that don’t align with the truth or what is morally right, it is OK to let them go.
JCCCNC believes that sustainable cultural heritage is one of the keys to our future success as a community. Our goal is to help individuals value their heritage and pass it on to the next generation. We can do this by providing opportunities for people to experience their heritage and share it with others. This includes preserving tangible and intangible cultural heritage, such as historic buildings and town sites, museums, and monuments. It can also include cultural landscapes, heritage canals and rivers, and the flora and fauna of natural areas.
Purpose
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes a group or society inherited from the past. As such, it has attached values for these groups or societies and is maintained in the present for future generations.
Sustainable cultural heritage allows people to experience other cultures in a way that connects them. Globalization, increased access to travel and technology have led to increased interest in other cultures and societies. Intangible cultural heritage includes a variety of practices, representations, expressions and knowledge. This can include culinary and other arts, languages, traditions and beliefs.
Efforts to preserve cultural heritage require a wide range of specialists, including material conservators, architects, archaeologists, historians, biologists, anthropologists and others. Often, this work is undertaken at international, national, regional and local levels of society. The digitalization, transcription and preservation of historical documents are essential to the success of this endeavor. Using tools like Transkribus to help with these efforts is a smart move that can ensure long-term preservation of this cultural heritage.
Significance
Cultural heritage plays a vital role in the lives of individuals, communities and societies. It provides a sense of belonging, creates shared values and fosters social cohesion. Although cultural heritage is often thought of as positive, it can also be contentious, such as when a monument is protested or denigrated by a certain segment of society.
The meaning of heritage has evolved over time as societies select particular cultural traits to preserve. Cultural heritage is now a more comprehensive concept than it once was, including all evidence of human creativity and expression, as well as the natural environment.
The preservation of cultural heritage is a complex task, and it faces numerous risks and threats, such as war and conflict, unsustainable tourism, climate change and natural disasters. Even benign neglect and natural deterioration can lead to the loss of valuable materials, such as historical documents. It is important to preserve cultural heritage in a sustainable manner and promote it for the benefit of future generations.