LESSON LightofRestorationPeace,WorldCulture,Heavenly 30 OFDEVELOPMENTANDPRESERVATIONHERITAGE LESSON OBJECTIVES 1 Understand why heritage needs to be preserved and developed. 2 Examine methods for preservation and development of heritage. TERMS TO KNOW • Preservation • Vandalize
2 30. Preservation and Development of Heritage Why We PreserveShouldHeritage
Each heritage has its own unique value, so we need to respect, preserve, and develop it. The future of humanity is shaped based on the foundation of world heritage and so the responsibility to preserve and develop heritage rests on the shoulders of I, a member of the global community. The region and community I belong to should pay close attention to heritage, and put in effort, even if it is small, to help preserve and develop it. However, in reality, we can often see how people neglect or fail to reach a consensus on the preservation of heritage. People also think that protecting cultural heritage is something the nation and its experts should do, and something irrelevant to them. Other times, people consider heritage as a mere means to host tourists or that they are for nation or individual’s profit. In worse cases, people abuse heritage or mistreat it. For instance, there are cases of university students visiting heritage sites for tourism and vandalizing walls, taking stone artifacts or natural objects within historic sites, or denigrating heritage itself because they can’t acknowledge differences and diversity in culture and ideology. These stem from the lack of proper education and mindset on the topic.There were also cases in which extremist groups destroyed key heritage sites that had been preserved for a long time during war and terrorist attacks. In 2014, a historic site (from 6th century BC) in Iraq, the tomb of Jonah (a prophet in the Bible) was destroyed due to armed forces’ apostasy policy. Egypt’s Islamic Art Museum was severely damaged by a car bombing and ended up being closed without restoration. Palmyra, an oasis in the Syrian desert, had existed even before 2,000 BC and was acknowledged as one of the most progressive construction heritages, but some parts were damaged by explosions caused by exploiters. As we can see from these cases, neglecting, damaging, and destroying world heritage takes
Cambodia’s Case of Preserving Angkor Park Toward the end of the 20th century, Cambodia was suffering from a 25-year long civil war. What helped Cambodia to recover from the physical and economic impact of the war was Angkor Park. The Angkor Wat’s historic site contains
Figure 30-1 Palmyra, Syria place in different corners of the world due to human greed and selfishness, the complication of interests, and conflicts. We as an individual need to recognize these issues, and, as a member of the global community, protect these heritages that embody history and ideology. This begins with greater attention to protection of heritage as something closely related to us.
30. Preservation and Development of Heritage 3
4 30. Preservation and Development of Heritage magnificent remains of various capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 15th centuries. Citizens were able to unite once again thanks to the park left by their forefathers, and they were able to take pride in being a member of theIncountry.1995,the international community collaborated to found the Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor (APSARA), composed of a small number of experts working to provide appropriate economic, financial and human resource support to ensure sustainable development of the park. APSARA gradually implemented a policy that integrates regional society into all phases of park management, and, as a result, it was able to induce sustainable use and protection of theThepark.protection authority and residents formed trust and cooperation with one another. By taking care of the existing natural resources and facilitating tourism, Figure 30-2 Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Efforts at Various Layers to Preserve and Develop World Heritages
Since the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted at the 17th General Assembly of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 16 January 1972, countries have been striving to enlist their respective cultural and natural heritage carrying outstanding universal value (OUV) as world heritage. As a result, in 2017, there were 832 cultural heritage sites, 206 natural heritage, and 35 mixed heritage, totaling 1,073 world heritage registered at UNESCO from 167 countries. Each country is doing more than simply having their heritage
30. Preservation and Development of Heritage 5 the opportunities to enhance the condition of life for residents increased significantly, and the residents actively engaged in managing and developing the park with self-endowed responsibility and greater role. The people also established a town development committee through direct election. In addition, they made subcommittees in charge of specific programs in multiple fields such as agriculture, ranching, forest management, handicrafts, micro-credit loan, potable water, renewable energy, etc. APSARA also provided support to help each sub-committee accomplish their goals. In addition to tangible heritage, they made a commentary program while studying Angkor Wat temple’s tradition and lifestyle along with residents’ village life. This was a part of their effort to preserve and develop intangible heritage. As we can witness from the case of Angkor Wat, managing, preserving, and developing heritage is not something the government does on its own; rather, a communal effort is needed where people of the area inherit the spirit instilled in the heritage and live in harmony with the heritage. Also, such effort becomes an important foundation to preserve and develop the history and value behind the heritage.
To have a proper understanding of cultural heritage, visiting and experiencing heritage sites individually or together with family, or introducing my town’s heritage to others, can be small but meaningful efforts. Schools can educate the students by including cultural heritage in the curriculum and provide opportunities to discuss and learn about cultural heritage through extracurricular activities and afterschool programs among others. In addition, having teachers and students take care of and promote heritage is a recommended method as well. For civil organizations, they can start and run various cultural heritage protection projects including education, volunteering, and cultural activities, monitoring, etc. and programs that include participation of civilians. Private companies can utilize their resources such as human and financial resources, etc. to contribute to society and provide seminars to get engaged in protecting cultural heritage and support those who are willing. There are companies that sign agreements with cultural heritage administrations or those that implement project on their own to ensure preservation of cultural heritage through diverse methods. It is not that preserving and passing down cultural heritage
• Having strategic management of history, culture, and environment by enacting laws to manage heritages and the nearby areas.•Discover and foster experts no preserving historic sites to enable systematic management.
• Create social consensus to ensure that historic sites and residents of nearby cultural heritage are able to co-exist, and offer educational programs for site preservation and management.
6 30. Preservation and Development of Heritage enlisted in world heritage as they put in efforts. We can see from Cambodia’s case to preserve and manage their heritages.
• Utilize the sites for tourism, develop relevant contents, tourism and experiencing programs, spread cultural heritage, and facilitate visits.•Discover new cultural heritages, develop and pass them down.
It is not an exaggeration to say that we are born with the responsibility to protect and develop cultural we inherited from our forefathers as we are a member of the human society and regional society. Hence, we need to be aware of this and our responsibilities to preserving cultural heritage, and build our character and capabilities as we ourselves are heritage as well. We need to pour our efforts into discovering and continuing a decent mindset and values from the past. 30-3 Heritage tour
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30. Preservation and Development of Heritage 7 to future generations requires something grand or complicated. There are efforts at the national level, but the first step begins with individuals recognizing the necessity of preserving heritage, and having the mindset that it begins with “I.”
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Activities 1 Let’s look for a heritage that I want to preserve and further develop and share each other’s opinions.
Why do we need to preserve and develop heritage?
3 What convention was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 for the preservation of heritages around the world?
2 What are the efforts that I can put in together with someone else to preserve and develop the heritage of my family or country? Let’s make a plan on how to put it into practice and share each other’s opinions.
4 What are some things that the private sector or civilians can do to preserve and develop heritage?
2 Why was Cambodia’s Angkor Park heritage preservation a successful case?
8 30. Preservation and Development of Heritage Reviewing the Lesson
Figure 30-1
Lesson30. Preservation and Development of Heritage 5th floor 20, Nambusunhwan-ro 347-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South-Korea Tel. +82 02-514-1963 Fax. +82 Thehwpl@hwpl.krhttp://www.hwpl.kr02-514-1961firsteditionon31 July 2022 Published by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light Copyright 2022 Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light All rights reserved. You must get consent from a copyright owner to use all or parts of the contents of this book. Image Credits
Figure 30-2 https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/04/18/06/59/cambodia-2238000_960_720.jpg
Figure 30-3 https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/01/30/20/30/ancient-3965330_960_720.jpg
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/11/14/10/15/palmyra-1042931_960_720.jpg