INTRODUCTION
The concept of heritage has several interpretations that can range from an individual private property passed down through inheritance to an artistic monument, objects or traditions to which society has attributed a unique and distinctive value. This creates a situation where such elements acquire a different importance compared to others, justifying the need for their conservation and transmission to future generations (Llull, 2005: 180).
All these interpretations have one thing in common, which is that heritage always belongs to someone, whether an individual or a social group. Therefore, any element can only be considered as heritage if there are people willing to appropriate it (Muriel, 2019: 5).
HISTORICAL HERITAGE
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, at the meeting held in Paris from October 17 to November 21, 1971, reference is made to two types of heritage (Cepeda, 2018: 246):
- Cultural Heritage: composed of monuments, archaeological structures, architectural works, places created by man or nature with exceptional value from a historical perspective.
- Natural Heritage: refers to all physical, biological, geological and physiographic formations of endangered species, with universal exceptional value from a scientific or natural beauty standpoint.
However, Cultural Heritage is not limited to monuments, nature, and object collections but also includes living traditions or expressions that are the legacy of a culture or human group (Muriel, 2019: 5) transmitted to our descendants as rituals, customs, oral traditions, architecture, knowledge or techniques linked to traditional craftsmanship, among others.
Consequently, the concept of heritage has been significantly expanded, covering "from objects to ideas, from the material to the intangible, from historical-artistic forms to culturally characteristic and relevant ways of life" (Marcos, 2004: 929). This Heritage would be constituted by all those aspects that are considered valuable and worthy of conservation.
The function of Cultural Heritage is to emotionally reinforce a sense of community with its own identity and which is perceived by others as characteristic (Fundación Ilam, 2000: 2). We could say that the reason why a certain collective, social group or community wants to appropriate a heritage is because it provides them with a sense of belonging and they see themselves reflected in such heritage. For this reason, it can be deduced that a type of relationship has been established which took time to build and must be cared for:
"(…) We must protect our cultural heritage because it gives identity to peoples, expresses the capacity we have to create and bear witness to our way of living, reflecting our reality and coexisting with other social groups. In addition, cultural heritage is the key support for human history, where each work created, tangible or intangible, serves as a cultural testimony that provides a sense of belonging to peoples and nations."
Rivas, 2018: 84
In summary, Cultural Heritage is everything that is linked to collective memory (Pérez, 2014: 62) and which today is considered sufficiently relevant for society in defining itself as it forms part of the expression of identity of a people and is the most representative of the cultural reality of each social group (Molano, 2007: 75-76). Similarly, Heritage is a testimony of a cultural environment, that is, the projection of identity of a certain collective over time (Agudo, 1999: 41).
As we can see, it is a relative concept that mainly depends on the value attributed by society, history, fashion, culture and the evolution of societies (Lull, 2005: 179).
CULTURE
The main difference between the term Culture and the concept of Cultural Heritage is that the former is in constant change and development. Generally, Culture does not require intervention and is primarily responsible for transmitting collective memory.
As we have already indicated, Cultural Heritage is not a static element but is subject to permanent changes conditioned by external factors such as the development of culture and cultural identity in order to contribute to improving living conditions in society (Marcos, 2004: 925-926), thus identity and culture are also concepts linked to each other.
In this way, as culture develops, the value of cultural property may change or evolve either due to its symbolic meaning or impact on society, potentially being replaced or discarded without affecting the integrity and value of our Heritage:
"(…) We can also say about practices that are inimical to the most fundamental human rights (amputations as a result of judicial sentences, religious and/or social customs, applications of capital punishment, etc.), which have been progressively abolished in other cultures without diminishing their richness and value. History shows us both the wealth and diversity of human expressions, as well as the capacity for substitution; and in these processes of change, just as we may speak of a "cultural impoverishment" in some cases, in others it would be an enrichment."
Agudo, 1999: 43
We see then that culture plays a very important role in human life: it provides social cohesion, influences traditions, customs and beliefs, generating also the feeling of belonging to a group, territory or community, that is, a sense of identity. We could say that everything learned and transmitted is culture, but what is inherited does not form part of cultural heritage; rather, this will only be constituted by those elements more relevant and significant culturally (Marcos, 2004: 929).
Bibliography
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- Cepeda Ortega, J. (2018). An approach to the concept of cultural identity from experiences: heritage and education. Tabanque, 31. P. 244-262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24197/trp.31.2018.244-262
- Fundación ILAM. (2000). Classification of heritage. URI: http://observatoriocultural.udgvirtual.udg.mx/repositorio/handle/123456789/110
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- Molano, O. L. (2007). Cultural identity: an evolving concept. Revista opera, (7), 69-84.
- Muriel, D. (2019). Identity and heritage. Manual (from sociology) to understand and manage cultural heritage.
- Pérez-Taylor, R. (2014). Collective memory, identity and cultural heritage. ResearchGate.
- Rivas, R. D. (2018). Handicraft: heritage and cultural identity. Revista De Museología Museología “Kóot», (9), 80–96. https://doi.org/10.5377/koot.v0i9.5908
- UNESCO. (s.f.). UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/new/es/culture
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