World Heritage Day

Every year on April 18, International Council on Monuments and Sites celebrates the International Day for Monuments and Sites, popularly called World Heritage Day. This year, the theme is ‘Heritage for Generations’. World Heritage Day is all about raising awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving various sites around the world that have achieved world heritage status.

Cultural heritage often brings to mind artifacts (paintings, drawings, prints, mosaics, sculptures), historical monuments and buildings, as well as archaeological sites. But cultural heritage is not just a set of cultural objects or traditions from the past. It has gradually grown to include all evidence of human creativity and expression: Photographs, documents, books and manuscripts, and instruments. What is cultural heritage? “Heritage” is something that is inherited and passed down from previous generations. In the case of “cultural heritage”; heritage doesn’t consist of money or property, but of culture, values and traditions.

Sadly, cultural heritage and natural heritage are increasingly threatened by traditional causes of decay and by changing social and economic conditions. That’s why it’s important to respect and safeguard all cultural heritages through laws and treaties. Illicit trafficking of artifacts and cultural objects, pillaging of archaeological sites, and destruction of historical buildings and monuments cause irreparable damage to the cultural heritage of a country.