A critical insight into UNESCO world heritage

Abstract

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention was signed in 1972 and has evolved since then alongside the heritage discipline. For example, cultural landscapes have joined the original heritage categories: monuments, groups of buildings, and sites. The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage appeared in 2003 to preserve traditions, customs, or social practices. However, within the framework of the World Heritage Convention, there is an unaltered matter: the principles to safeguard heritage that States must enforce. The fourth article states these are "the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage,"which must be understood on equal terms. This presentation reflects upon the collision of some of these principles with the management of World Heritage sites. Through the case of the Cathedral of Seville, we explore how heritage privatization alters the diffusion of its cultural values. The conflict around the Mosque of Córdoba makes us think about what is identified as heritage and how it affects the different monument uses. The Mercantile City of Liverpool illustrates how new urban development disrupts conservation and threatens World Heritage status. The reflections seek to deepen the articulation between the Convention and state protection tools while stimulating debates on the efficient safeguarding of the principles that structure UNESCO’s World Heritage.