Explanation of the Gaps and Imbalances in the Iranian World Heritage List

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate in the restoration of historical buildings and Fabrics, School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, of the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Restoration, School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Cultural Heritage Research Institute of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The World Heritage Convention was set up in 1972 and was welcomed by many countries, becoming an international instrument for identifying, preserving, and managing common heritage of mankind. However, after a few years, significant gaps in the World Heritage List emerged due to imbalances in geographical distribution or specific subjects. For instance, Europe, historic cities and religious buildings, and Christianity compared to other parts of the world, other relics, and other religions, respectively, had far many inscriptions. Furthermore, there were far too many historical periods in comparison to the prehistoric period and the twentieth century, and “Elitist” architecture was inscription far too often in comparison to indigenous architecture; in general, traditional and alive cultures were given very few places on the list. Therefore, the World Heritage Committee launched a plan known as the Global Strategy in order to identify and bridge the gaps in the List in an attempt to create a representative, balanced, and credible World Heritage List. In this regard, ICOMOS and IUCN reviewed the World Heritage List using specific methods to identify the gaps. ICOMOS used typological, chronological-regional, and thematic frameworks to analyze the World Heritage List and the Tentative List until 2004. The typological analysis analyzed the properties based on form and structure, just as the World Heritage Committee has done since the World Heritage List was established. ICOMOS classified the world into various regions and identified historical periods in each region using a chronological-regional framework. The relationship between man and his surrounding environment was highlighted in the thematic framework, and his response to his surroundings was analyzed in the formation of tangible properties in historical periods. As a result, after ICOMOS and IUCN presented their reports on the gaps in the World Heritage List to the World Heritage Committee, the Committee imposed a restriction on annual inscription by countries, and countries were asked to identify the gaps in their World Heritage List using the evaluation methods introduced by ICOMOS and IUCN, and propose new nominations with the goal of filling the gaps in the overall list as well as each country's list. Using the ICOMOS's method and focusing on cultural heritage, this study reviewed the World Heritage List and tentative list of Iran to identifying the gaps in the lists. In doing so, all Iranian inscriptions on the World Heritage List as well as Iran's tentative list, were reviewed, and all ICOMOS's classifications were applied based on the information in the case of these works. The analysis in the typological framework was carried out for Iran and the world through analytical comparison of the status of each category in order to make a comparison between Iran's status and the current situation in the world, using the most recent information published by the Committee. The results showed that the World Heritage List of Iran has significant gaps in categories such as natural heritage, transnational and transboundary properties, geographical distribution, and special types of heritage such as industrial heritage, 20th-century heritage, or subjects such as utilizing natural resources, movement of peoples, and developing technologies.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

حیدری، شاهین (1394). درآمدی بر روش تحقیق در معماری. تهران: انتشارات کتاب فکرنو
دلاور، علی (1385). روش‌های تحقیق در روانشناسی و علوم تربیتی. تهران: دانشگاه پیام نور
وزارت میراث فرهنگی، گردشگری و صنایع‌دستی (1398). آمار تعداد آثار موجود در فهرست میراث فرهنگی غیر منقول ملی.
وزارت میراث فرهنگی، گردشگری و صنایع‌دستی (1400). آمار تعداد آثار موجود در فهرست میراث طبیعی ملی.
یوکیلهتو، یوکا (1387). تاریخ حفاظت معماری (مترجمان: محمد حسن طالبیان، خشایار  بهاری). تهران: انتشارات روزنه.
 
Duedahl, P. (2016). A History of UNESCO: Global Actions and Impacts. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-58120-4.
Elliott, M. A., & Schmutz, V. (2012). World heritage: Constructing a universal cultural order. Poetics, 40, 3, 256–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2012.03.003.
Francioni, F. (2008). The 1972 World Heritage Convention. A Commentary. New Yurk: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1628/000389209788075275.
Ishizawa, M., & Westrik, C. (2021). Analysis of the Global Strategy for a Representative , Balanced and Credible World Heritage List ( 1994 - 2020 ) (Issue March).Paris:UNESCO. https://whc.unesco.org/document/187906.
Jokilehto, J., Cleere, H., Denyer, S., & Petzet, M. (2005). The World Heritage List Filling the Gaps. An Action Plan for the Future. Paris: ICOMOS. http://www.icomos.org/world_heritage/gaps.pdf.
Jokiletho, J. (2008). The World Heriatge List: What is OUV? Defining the Outstanding Universal Value of Cultural World Heritage Properties. Paris:ICOMOS.
Labadi, S. (2005). A review of the Global Strategy for a balanced, representative and credible World Heritage List 1994–2004. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 7, 2, 89–102. https://doi.org/10.1179/135050305793137477.
League of nations. (1923). Minutes of the second session- committee on intellectual co-operation. https://biblio-archive.unog.ch/Dateien/CouncilMSD/C-570-M-224-1923-XII_EN.pdf.
Meskell, L. (2013). Challenging the Economic and Political Order of International Heritage Conservation. Current Anthropology, 54, 4, 483. https://doi.org/10.1086/671136.
Nedučin, D. (2009). International Documentation on World Heritage Protection – A Review. Građevinsko – Arhitektonski Fakultet U Nišu Nauka + Praksa, 12, 1, 143–146.
Rao, K. (2010). A new paradigm for the identification, nomination and inscription of properties on the World Heritage List. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 16(3), 161–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527251003620594.
Titchen, S. M. (1995). On the construction of outstanding universal value. UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention and the identification and assessment of cultural places for inclusion in the World Heritage List. Ph.D Thesis, Australian National university. https://doi.org/10.25911/5D78D84DD1746.
UNESCO. (1994). Expert Meeting on the “Global Strategy” and thematic studies for a representative World Heritage List (UNESCO Headquarters, 20-22 June 1994)- Report. Paris:UNESCO. https://whc.unesco.org/archive/global94.htm.
UNESCO. (2000). Unesco World Heritage Committee, Twenty Fourth Session Report. Paris:UNESCO. https://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/24COM.
UNESCO. (2001). UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity . Paris:UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/about-us/legal-affairs/unesco-universal-declaration-cultural-diversity.
UNESCO. (2002). The Budapest Declaration on World Heritage (Issue May).Paris:UNESCO.
UNESCO. (2011). Preparing World Heritage Nomination. Paris:UNESCO.
UNESCO. World Heritage Centre (2019). Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (Issue July). Paris:UNESCO. http://whc.unesco.org/archive/opguide08-en.pdf.
URL_1: SPAB History. Retrieved December 4, 2019, from https://www.spab.org.uk/about-us/spab-history.
URL_2: Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Hague Convention (IX) on Bombardment by Naval Forces, 1907. Retrieved December 4, 2019, from https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/INTRO/220.
URL_3: The Athens Charter for the Restoration of Historic Monuments 1931. (1931). https://www.icomos.org/en/167-the-athens-charter-for-the-restoration-of-historic-monuments.
URL_4: UNESCO World Heritage Centre - World Heritage List. Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/.
URL_5: https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/97176.
URL_6:https://www.iucn.org/theme/world-heritage/our-work/advisor-world-heritage/nominations. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
URL_7: UNESCO World Heritage Centre - Tentative Lists. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/state=ir.
URL_8:https://www.icomos.org/en/about-the-centre/publicationsdoc/monographic-series-3/198-thematic-studies-for-the-world-heritage-convention.
Journal of Architecture and Urban Planning
Volume 15, Issue 37
December 2022
Pages 121-145

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics