Cultural heritage

Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance, For the sustainable management of the historic environment, Published by Historic England in 2008, defines cultural heritage as: ‘Inherited assets which people identify and value as a reflection and expression of their evolving knowledge, beliefs and traditions, and of their understanding of the beliefs and traditions of others.’

A Guide To Climate Change Impacts, On Scotland’s Historic Environment, published by Historic Environment Scotland in October 2019, defines intangible cultural heritage as: ‘traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.’

Safeguarding Cultural Heritage from Natural and Man-Made Disasters, A comparative analysis of risk management in the EU Published by the European Union, 2018, suggests cultural heritage: “consists of the resources inherited from the past in all forms and aspects - tangible, intangible and digital (born digital and digitized), including monuments, sites, landscapes, skills, practices, knowledge and expressions of human creativity, as well as collections conserved and managed by public and private bodies such as museums, libraries and archives. It originates from the interaction between people and places through time and it is constantly evolving.”

Conservation Principles, Guidance for the sustainable management of the historic environment in Northern Ireland, published by the Historic Environment Division in July 2021, defines cultural heritage as: ‘Inherited assets which people identify and value as a reflection and expression of their evolving knowledge, beliefs and traditions, and of their understanding of the beliefs and traditions of others.’

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Authentic Reconstruction: authenticity, architecture and the built environment.
• Conservation.
• Cultural significance.
• Heritage asset.
• Heritage.
• Historic environment.
• Sustainability.