Sharing World Heritage Day 2020
The theme of this year’s World Heritage Day is ‘Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility’.
World Heritage Day has been observed every year on April 18 since 1982 when the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) suggested this date be held as a marker of the importance of heritage. The suggestion was accepted by UNESCO in 1983 at their 22nd General Conference.
The aim of celebrating this day is to promote cultural heritage through activities which are undertaken by the International Council on Monuments and Sites however this year that has been more challenging due to COVID-19 lockdowns and isolations.
Of the 1,121 UNESCO World Heritage Sites worldwide, 869 are cultural, 213 are natural and 39 are a mixture.
Why ‘Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility’?
We thought ICOMOS summed it up superbly…
The theme for ‘Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility’, reflects the global context of heritage as part of cultural identity at a time of rapid population shift, conflict, and environmental uncertainty. The theme recognises that heritage – whether places, landscapes, practices, or collections – are frequently connected with and valued by multiple and diverse groups and communities. At its core, the overarching theme is concerned with the relationships between cultures or cultural groups and their collective responsibility for the care and safeguarding of the significant attributes, meanings, and values of heritage.
However, the idea of ‘shared’ is intentionally provocative. In an historic sense, cultures and societies have commonly shared cultural practices, ways of doing, and viewpoints. Nevertheless, in some cases these features have been forced upon populations and resisted rather than collectively adopted (e.g., religious beliefs). In other instances knowledge and practice may be closely guarded and thus not shared (e.g., in many Indigenous cultures). Additionally, some heritage items have been destroyed or damaged for what they symbolise (e.g., the Buddhas of Bamiyan), thus resisting any sense of sharing or ideological tolerance. More typically in the work of heritage, the values of places can be contested leading to debates about their conservation (e.g., Sydney’s Sirius building).
In adopting the term ‘shared’, the 2020 International Day for Monuments and Sites invites participants to explore the idea of sharing—and its counterpoints, contestation and resistance—in relation to cultures, heritage and responsibility. It invites reviews of traditional thinking on the topic and seeks new and diverse perspectives and insights that encourage discussion and dialogue.
‘Shared Cultures, Shared Heritage, Shared Responsibility’ is also the theme for the ICOMOS 20th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium. This prestigious event, that Extent are proud to be Opal Partners on, is currently scheduled to be held in Sydney in October this year.
