A WORLD HERITAGE

• Unesco and the growing awareness of our heritage
• Types of Unesco heritage
• The world heritage listed Compostela ways in France

UNESCO AND THE GROWING AWARENESS OF OUR HERITAGE

"Wars are born in men's minds. It is in men's minds that the defences of peace must be built."
Ellen Wilkinson, extract from the UNESCO constitution, 16th November 1945

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) came into being just after the Second World War, with the objective of creating an international movement to preserve heritage.

Indeed, the destruction brought about during the conflict spawned the dawning realisation of the universal value of heritage, and the necessity of preserving the legacy of our ancestors in order to hand it on to future generations.

The sites on the World Heritage List are thus invested with an Exceptional Universal Value. If lost, they would be irreplaceable in the understanding of cultures, civilisation and the human environment.

The first event which mobilised international opinion was the decision to build the Aswan Dam in Egypt. The valley in which stood the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae, treasures of ancient Egyptian civilisation, was to be submerged beneath the waters. In 1959, UNESCO launched an international safeguarding campaign. The rate of archaeological research in the zones to be flooded was then stepped up, and the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae were dismantled, moved and reassembled.

Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel©Emmanuel Pivard

 In the 1960's and 1970's, other sites such as Venice (Italy), Mohenjo Daro (Pakistan) and the Buddhist temples of Borobudur (Indonesia) benefited from international safeguarding operations. As well as preserving heritage of inestimable value, these operations also enabled these places to be better known both locally and worldwide, the emergence of the notion of a heritage common to all humanity and the preparation of the 1972 convention on world heritage.

Archaeological ruins of Mohenjo Daro©unesco	Venise©unesco

The World Heritage Convention

Since 1972, the Convention for the preservation of world cultural and natural heritage defines the natural or cultural sites which merit inclusion on the World Heritage List.

By signing the Convention, each country undertakes to ensure the proper conservation of the World Heritage sites located within its borders and to cooperate with the international plan to assist in the preservation of that heritage. The Convention encourages the participating states to raise public awareness of the value of World Heritage sites and to improve their protection by education and information campaigns.

Complete text of the Convention on http://whc.unesco.org/fr/conventiontexte/

A bit of education…

A tourist guide, a teacher with their class, accommodation providers attentive to the needs and comfort of their guests, authorities doing their best to make sure the rules are observed, a story-teller who knows how to share the essence of a place with their audience…

People living beside the Ways who chat with strangers on the path, believers of all kinds and non-believers who talk about what it means to be Human, volunteers faithfully informing, signposting or welcoming at the overnight stopover someone who has been on the road a few days…

You, us, individuals, groups, ramblers, pilgrims, tourists, local inhabitants and volunteers from associations…We are all the guardians of World Heritage ! Everyone is connected with everyone else : exchanging, sharing and cooperating are essential to generate cohesion and quality all along the Ways.

 TYPES OF UNESCO HERITAGE

Material Heritage

Cultural heritage : the Taj Mahal (India)©Unesco	Natural heritage : Great bareer reef (Australia)©Evergreen	Mixed cultural and natural heritage :Pyrénées-Montperdu (France)©JC Gil Ballano

 Immaterial Heritage

Heritage cannot be limited solely to the tangible traces of cultures. Equally vital, and even more vulnerable, are languages, oral traditions, dance, performance arts, rituals and festive events, craftwork, costumes and beliefs.

These constitute immaterial heritage. Although fragile, cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of globalisation.

Unesco wants to prevent the chain of inter-generational cultural transmission  being broken ; it is this transmission which enables all peoples to perpetuate the renewal of their own culture whilst nourishing it with exchanges and integrating mutations taking place in the world outside. This is what the preservation of traditional, popular cultures recommended by UNESCO in 1989 is all about. Since 2003, a Convention has existed for the preservation of immaterial cultural heritage.

In 2020, the representative List of cultural heritage included 584 protected elements, 23 of which are in France.

For more information about Immaterial World Heritage : http://fr.unesco.org/themes/patrimoine-culturel-immateriel

Seven-yearly expositions of relics in the Limousin. Ceremonies and processions are organised every seven years for the exposition and veneration of saints' relics conserved in churches in the Limousin. The preparation of expositions mobilises all the inhabitants, who consider themselves to be the upholders of the tradition. ©2010 Région Limousin, Inventory and cultural heritage service, Jean-Louis Vey.

Giants and dragons which appear in processions in France and Belgium. First seen in the late 14th C., these figures represent animals, trades, and historic, Biblical or legendary characters. They have preserved a sense of identity for certain towns where they remain living traditions, as in Tarascon. The feast in honour of the apostle James in Santiago de Compostela is also enlivened by a procession of these giants.©Gérard Marin

Threatened heritage

A World Heritage in Peril List identifies the items of heritage whose state of conservation is fragile. For instance, the cultural landscape and the archaeological vestiges of the Bamiyan valley (Afghanistan), where two giant Buddhas were destroyed in 2001, or the town of Timbuctoo (Mali), which has been suffering destructive raids linked to the Malian conflict since 2012. Similarly, in Syria or Iraq, heritage is being attacked.

The aim of putting a place on the World Heritage in Peril List is to prioritise the coordination of all international efforts to save the menaced sites.

Complete list of World Heritage in Peril on http://whc.unesco.org/fr/peril/

Buddha destroyed in the Bamiyan valley©Unesco	Manuscripts in Timbuctoo, in 2005. 4 203 of these manuscripts have already been lost since the start of the conflict©Unesco

FRENCH WORLD HERITAGE SITES

In 2020, 1121 sites around the world figured on the World Heritage List. Of these, 45 are in France.

The "Association des Biens Français du Patrimoine Mondial (ABFPM)" brings together the majority of the French sites in a network for sharing and exchanging ideas :
www.assofrance-patrimoinemondial.org

Belfries in France and Belgium©Editions Gelbart	Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion)©Hervé Douris

 The World Heritage listed Compostela Ways in France

"Throughout the Middle Ages, Santiago de Compostela was a major destination for innumerable pilgrims in Europe. To reach Spain, the pilgrims crossed France. Four symbolic Ways, starting from Paris, Vézelay, le Puy and Arles and leading to the crossing of the Pyrenees represent the enormous number of different routes taken by pilgrims.

Pilgrimage churches or simple sanctuaries, hospitals, bridges and wayside crosses mark out these routes, and bear witness to the spiritual and material aspects of the pilgrimage. A spiritual exercise and a manifestation of faith, the pilgrimage also influenced the secular world by playing a decisive role in the birth and circulation of ideas and the arts."

Declaration by UNESCO of the Exceptional Universal Value of the Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Ways in France
The cultural property in series (constituted of numerous structures) known as "The Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Ways in France" was listed in 1998.

This listing does not concern the routes as such, but is represented on the ground by pilgrimage churches or simple sanctuaries, hospitals and bridges situated along the the four symbolic paths starting from Tours, Vézelay, le Puy and Arles. These paths lead to the crossing of the Pyrenees and stand for the countless different itineraries actually taken by travellers.

Document to download : booklet "Chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en France"

The Unesco property "The Saint James' Ways in France" in pictures :

In all, there are 71 monuments and 7 sections of pilgrim way, spread over the 10 French regions, bringing the mediaeval pilgrimage to life, mainly through the devotion to Saint James and other saints, hospitality, and the solutions enabling the crossing of obstacles along the way.

This faithful evocation of the mediaeval pilgrimage is brought to life via a composite ensemble, which you can find out about by consulting the dedicated website www.cheminscompostelle-patrimoinemondial.fr