World Heritage and Modernity

The aim of the project is to explain and understand the meaning of the past in the present by investigating a global and prominent example of heritage, namely the distribution of World Heritage sites in relation to expressions of Modernity.

World Heritage and Modernity

The aim of the project is to explain and understand the meaning of the past in the present by investigating a global and prominent example of heritage, namely the distribution of World Heritage sites in relation to expressions of Modernity. A further aim is to integrate two perspectives, heritage management and critical heritage studies. The main question in short: What is the relationship between heritage and modernity?

The starting point is a number of paradoxes: The past is impossible to preserve for eternity; all preservation implies change; preservation of one site normally means destruction of others; threats are important to create heritage, but at the same time heritage can become a threat and threats can become heritage themselves; heritage stands in contrast to modernity and is at the same time part of it; both the increase and the decrease of modernity seem to create heritage; finally, heritage may at the same time be global and local.