The Importance Of Preserving Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Cultural heritage includes tangible culture (such as buildings, monuments, landscapes, books, works of art, and artifacts). It also includes intangible culture traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts intangible culture (such as folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge), and natural heritage (including culturally significant landscapes, biodiversity). With the aim of protecting the world’s most valuable cultural treasures World Heritage Convention was adopted in 1972. There are now a total of 1052 World Heritage sites around the world in 165 countries including cultural sites of historical or anthropological value. But some of those sites are at risk. Being listed at a World Heritage site can bring attention and made governments to protect those areas but the publicity can cause damage by the overflow of tourists which will lead to the further degradation. The preservation of cultural and historical heritage has become such a serious issue that even international organizations have taken a commitment to carry out special operations to prevent its devastation which can result in not only the loss of nation’s identity, but also affects the development of cultural tourism.

For analyzing the problems of the protection of cultural heritage first of all we should clarify what to understand by saying cultural heritage. Culture encompasses a nation’s way of living and thinking and way of creating which are typical only for that society. Way of living is usually formed by firstly religion, then according to it, traditions, customs, special rituals and holidays appear. Take example of a traditional wedding in Armenia. The culture of weddings there differs greatly from weddings in other cultures because of our religion and traditions. Way of thinking means how the part of a particular culture perceives the world, how he treats the changes that occur in the world, how he acts towards other cultures that are entirely different from them. For showing the contrast between the ways of thinking of a nations’ cultures we can mention Armenians that based on historical issues with that nation, have a negative view about someone Turkish without knowing him personally, only depending on the nation. And take A Russian that will form his opinion about a Turkish by only socializing with him. These two ways that are strongly connected to each other are essential in the formation of a culture peculiar to a nation. Culture is identification, a tool through which the nation is recognized globally. That’s one of the main reasons why we should preserve our cultural and national peculiarities. All these things mentioned that culture embodies in itself have deep roots formed during thousands of ages, eventually forming the heritage. But they are not the only parts of cultural heritage that should be protected.

The third part of cultural heritage that needs preservation is the way of creating. This refers to every sphere that requires creating mind. From music to painting, from dance to literature, from architecture to design everything is connected with the creation of something that has cultural value that is born through national peculiarities. So, the folk music, traditional dances, paintings of national figures, ancient architectural buildings are constituent parts of historical heritage as through them the history was passed through the flaw of years. Old buildings such as monuments and memorials, churches and temples, cathedrals and monasteries are the parts of nation’s historical heritage. Humans should understand their value and try to protect them from any harm. However, it is not usually as easy as it sounds. Sometimes heritage is damaged because of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc. Historical heritage mostly gets damaged in wars and in times of conflicts. It is reported that 55 World Heritage sites are listed as being in danger, some of them due to conflict. All six of Syria’s UNESCO’S World Heritage sites have been damaged or destroyed in the war. It means that the world has lost six of its significant sites that will hardly be recovered ever. Even though the preservation of historical monuments and sites seems challenging, we all can take part in safeguarding our values. One of the ways we can promote the conservation of our historical culture is to join in UNESCO volunteering programs or simply by making people aware of the importance of preserving these invaluable sites by sharing videos or informative materials through social networking sites. To be kept alive, cultural heritage must remain relevant to a culture and be regularly practiced and learned within communities and between generations.

As Professor Richard Stamps has stated heritage is a bond to our past. Our ancestors made huge efforts in creating those valuable things. They weren’t made just in one day. Those historical values created thousands of years ago have felt the breath of ages passing by. Our previous generations also have tried to preserve them and thanks to them now we have many unique samples of different civilizations and thanks to them now we can have an idea for example how people lived thousands of ages ago, what people read in middle ages, where these peoples went to pray and so on. It is easy to destroy all these values just in a moment but we should try first of all to save them. It is important not only for our future generations, but it also shows our respect towards our ancestors and their great efforts. When natural disasters happen for example, when a fire breaks out in a forest, the forest will be recovered later. But it is not the same with our heritage, if they are destroyed, they are gone forever, even if it is regained, it loses its uniqueness as the creator is not same. As the professor compares, it is like ripping the pages out of the history book. When we preserve our heritage we have the book fully, we have introduction then body of the text and in the end the conclusion. When we destroy part of our heritage, the book loses its structure. So, when as a result of our unwatchful actions, a part of our heritage gets damaged, it gets revealed that we refuse our past as something unneeded and unwanted. The historical heritage that is a part of our heritage and culture is not supposed to be a popular spot so that to be protected. We should take care of every single sample that will remind us about ancient civilizations.

Probably everybody has heard about the fire that broke out beneath the roof of Notre Dame de Paris in Paris in 2019.This was a breaking terrifying news for the whole world. It was regretful to hear that one of the greatest cathedrals of all times was at the edge of devastation. Fortunately attempts to shut down the fire and save the cathedral were successful. But imagine if it the fire broke out in an unknown place, far from the human eyes. We would definitely lose a part of heritage; we would lose the proof of human activity there. We only learn about the sites that are popular among tourists or are recognized internationally. But alongside with so said sites in demand, the sites that are listed at World Heritage Sites list and are much more popular among tourists; there are very many ancient buildings, historical places and monuments that are in danger at the present time. Those unknown sites are also of great value. These sites are also a significant part of our culture, a part of a nation, a result of a human existence. They also need protection and attention, need to be visited, heard and taken care of. The fire of Notre Dame is only a remarkable sample that the mankind is not careful about the environment which includes cultural and historical sites as well. Consequently, here appears one huge why, why we are not conscious about the heritage reached us through ages. This problem has appeared because we are not aware of the significance of conservation of our heritage. One of the solutions of the problem can be involving local people and communities to take part in the preservation process. As an example we can mention that in 2017 The EU has supported a number of initiatives directed at the preservation and promotion of cultural legacies, and has helped local communities find ways to efficiently use local cultural heritage resources for the development of cities, towns and other settlements in Armenia.In the frame of one of the programs which was aimed at making provinces more recognizable by introducing national heritage to the younger generation, camps were organized and children received practical and theoretical information, they saw the monument with their own eyes, also they cleaned the area and learned how to look after the monuments. These children will be the source of spreading this information among their peers and the impact of the program will be extended. Another activity that was organized was locals creating handmade souvenirs, blankets and cases with Armenian patterns and selling them to tourists. Thanks to this program the bond with tourists and the locals will get tighter.

Another way of preserving the cultural- historical heritage is to develop sustainable tourism in the country. In the 21st century tourism has become a major tool for many countries to develop their economies. It has gotten a highly profitable branch of industry as more and more people aspire to explore the world, see its unique places, and get acquainted with the heritage we got thanks to our ancestors. This is one of the main reasons why tourism has a positive effect on the country and its development but there is another side of the coin. Tourism can have a harmful effect due to the stream of unaccustomed visitors that cause damage without realizing the seriousness of their actions. For the solution of this problem nowadays the concept of sustainable/responsible tourism is spread. That is learning to respect the country we visit wholly with its people, environment, culture, customs and traditions. This kind of tourism will not only develop the country’s economy through tourism but also promote the idea of cultural and historical heritage preservation as responsible tourists are aware of its importance. Sustainable tourism contributes to the concept that national identity, the features that differentiates one nation from another, are to be kept and respected. This is a key for developing cultural tourism in a country as tourists are interested in countries with rich history and culture. For example we can mention Armenia where cultural tourism is the most developed branch of tourism thanks to historical and ancient places spread all over country’s territory, till now preserved traditions and customs that are only typical for them. Tourist visit Armenia because people here safeguard their past and are proud to introduce them to others. And the image would be different if they would have nothing distinguishing them from other nations. So, we can see that culture is something specific; it forms the nation’s image, so as long as the culture is preserved, the nation is alive.

The preservation of cultural – historical heritage is a serious issue nowadays. First of all we should understand what culture is and what it encompasses. Culture is composed of tangible and intangible cultures that include nation’s history, religion, traditions, etc. All these things define the nation, in other words they form the nation’s identity. Culture is what makes one nation different from others. So, it is essential to preserve the culture .On one hand by devastating the heritage of historical and cultural value we endanger the chances to develop a cultural tourism in the country as a nation without any distinguishing feature will arose no interest among tourists. On the other hand we underestimate our ancestors ‘great efforts to leave for us a valuable heritage. Heritage is something that connects the past with the present. It carries the information about our previous generations. So, we should be responsible towards our cultural heritage so as to pass it to our future generations. There are several ways for making people aware of the importance of preserving cultural and historical heritage. One of the ways is developing sustainable or responsible tourism in countries which will benefit the heritage conservation as sometimes the uptick in tourism to the sites brings to the further degradation. Another way to safeguard the heritage is to involve local communities in that process. Currently, international organizations organize projects for overcoming this issue. They cooperate with governments and carry out operations together with locals. There are examples which proved that thanks to those projects the idea of cultural- historical heritage preservation gets more extended and encouraged. Cultural-historical heritage is essential for the nation to exist. So it is left for us only to respect cultures and to save them for future generations.