A Világörökség mint kulturális örökségi laboratórium
The World Heritage as Cultural Heritage Lab

Summary/Abstract: Among others, UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention has a mission as a heritage lab. It is an efficient tool to detect problems and develop solutions, which in turn can be applied to all heritage values recognized on local, national and regional levels. The adoption and adaptation of these solutions increase the potential and efficiency of their preservation as well as their appropriate, sustainable, and sustained use. The lessons learned concern management planning, financing models, and long-term thinking, which are underpinned by professional support and control. Challenges include the complex and often contradictory relationship between research and development and the “heritagization process.” Communities, professional and other types of bodies can attribute heritage value to nearly everything. An important question is whether priority should be given to the preservation of existing values or the “reproduction” of heritage. Approaching the question of the “same” and the “alike” from the angle of authenticity is a false interpretation, which deems the conditions present in one cultural region automatically applicable to another. The global implementation of heritagization generates the appreciation of heritage on a local level, which the local communities attempt to “monetize” on the “global” market. The question is how heritage can be preserved “very” authentically without hampering the possibility to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities. Where does the boundary lie between living heritage and touristic attraction? The same question applies to the problem of reconstructing elements of built heritage. The aim of the convention is to safeguard the shared heritage of humanity in ways which improve the quality of life for local communities. The most significant results of this lab are the requirements and tools developed for the implementation of the convention, including the criteria of authenticity and integrity; the requirements concerning management, maintenance and monitoring prescribed to ensure the successful management of a word heritage site; and the dissemination of a networked heritage approach.

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