UNESCO - International Organisation
International protection of architectural heritage is laid down by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is a specialist United Nations body set up in 1945 to contribute to worldwide peace and safety through education, science and culture (http://whc.unesco.org) . Its headquarters are in Paris and its universality is seen from the number of member countries, which currently stands at 195. UNESCO programmes work towards achieving the sustainable development goals defined in the 2030 Programme and approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. Throughout its history UNESCO has shown great respect for the protection of cultural heritage through the use of two regulatory mechanisms: conventions, ratifying the regulations for all countries, and recommendations, which have no regulatory value but are used as proposals for the protection of culture and cultural assets.
UNESCO’s missions include the promotion of the worldwide identification, protection and conservation of any cultural and natural heritage considered of particular value to humanity. This inspired the proposal for an international treaty which culminated in the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, approved by UNESCO in 1972. It was therefore born from awareness of increasing threats to heritage, potentially leading to its complete disappearance. It also acknowledges that protection on a national scale is incomplete, given the number of resources required. This convention examines heritage from the perspective of both culture and nature, reflecting the interaction between people and nature and the need to preserve the balance between both. To date, 193 countries have ratified this document, showing almost universal acceptance. These countries thus recognize that the sites found in their territory and recorded on the World Heritage List are part of a universal heritage to be jointly protected and safeguarded by the entire international community with no detriment to national sovereignty or ownership. UNESCO currently preserves the heritage of 167 countries through this World Heritage List. The declaration of assets as World Heritage is a recognition awarded by UNESCO to sites of exceptional universal value. This distinction is used to acknowledge these assets as universal, so that their enjoyment, protection and care will be recognized worldwide, irrespective of location.
To be included on the World Heritage List, a site must display exceptional universal value and meet at least one of the selection criteria established by UNESCO. There are 10 selection criteria, detailed in the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, along with the text of the Convention, is the main working tool for World Heritage. Until 2004, World Heritage sites were selected on the basis of six cultural and four natural criteria, but with the adoption of the revised Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, only one set of ten criteria exists. The Committee periodically reviews the criteria to ensure that they reflect the evolution of the concept of World Heritage:
- “i) to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius
- ii) to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a given period or specific cultural area of the world, in relation to developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town planning or landscape design
- iii) to bear unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or civilization which is either living or has disappeared
- iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological complex or landscape which illustrates significant stages in human history
- v) to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land use, or sea use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially if these have become vulnerable under the irreversible impact of change
- vi) to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance; the Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other ones
- vii) to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance
- viii) to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features
- ix) to be outstanding examples of significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
- x) to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity, including those with threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.”
Some architectural examples of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the countries of current research are: the works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana – Human Centred Urban Design (Slovenia) (criteria iv); the Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada (Spain) (criteria i, iii, iv); the Acropolis, Athens (Greece) (criteria i, ii, iii, iv, vi); the City of Bath, England (UK) (criteria i, ii, iv); Cologne Cathedral (Germany) (criteria i, ii, iv); the Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge (France) criteria i, ii, iv); the archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata (Italy) criteria iii, iv, v); the old village of Hollókő and its surroundings (Hungary) (criteria v); and the historic Centre of Warsaw (Poland) (criteria ii, vi); Škocjan Caves (Slovenia) (criteria vii, viii); Ibiza, biodiversity and culture (Spain) (criteria ii, iii, iv, ix, x); St Kilda (UK) (criteria iii, iv, vii, ix, x).