Write an article on the importance of Conserving our Architectural Heritage for the future Generations.
Answers
Heritage conservation is important for identifying, recording, analysing and protecting heritage and cultural resources. Conservation of heritage buildings is an important tool in city development which can be seen in some cities in the world. It plays an important role to define the landmark within the heritage area as well as to generate economic return and to support the tourism industry. Conservation of heritage buildings is very important because it provides a sense of identity and continuity in a fast changing world for future generations.
Heritage buildings basically represent the past history and culture of a nation. They constitute together the architectural heritage of an area. Heritage buildings possess historical values resulting from their beautiful architecture and their correlation with important events that occurred in the heritage area such as religious, social and political events. Heritage buildings are subjected to processes of degradation with time, which leads to a situation in which they became not able to fulfil the purpose for which they were built. For example, in Canada about 20 percent of pre-1920 heritage buildings to demolition over the last 30 years has been lost (Heritage Canada Foundation website, 20 December 2012).
Therefore, heritage buildings need an important tool to protect them. Conservation guidelines of heritage buildings are one of the proposed resolutions for protecting heritage buildings. The absence of these guidelines leads inevitably to deterioration of heritage buildings. They must be created and developed to ensure that any important changes in conservation work are undertaken in the most ways possible to preserve the heritage structure’s, historic character and features. They prevent the random works that have spread in the conservation projects of heritage buildings. On this basis, conservation guidelines for developing and utilizing these properties must be established.
Libya is a treasure chest of historic and ancient cultures. Great civilizations flourished in the country, including Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic. They all left lasting imprints of their cultures. Libya has five official UNESCO cultural heritage sites. The five sites added to the World Heritage List between 1982 and 1986 provide a clear illustration that Libya has a heritage whose incalculable value belongs to all humanity. The old city of Ghadames (OCG) is one of the official UNESCO cultural heritage sites that Libya has. The OCG is a major desert city and played an important role as a cultural and trade centre between the Mediterranean and Africa for over 1400 years. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1986 in recognition of its rich cultural heritage.
Tourism plays an important role in the old city of Ghadames with many visitors from all over the world coming to attend the Annual Festival of Dates which is held in October. The conservation of heritage buildings of the old city of Ghadames will preserve and restore a valuable piece of Libya’s heritage and also contribute to the development of the city as an important tourist destination. This research attempts to assess the overall structural integrity of the heritage buildings of the old city of Ghadames as well as provide and develop conservation procedures and guidelines for repairing and conserving heritage buildings of the old city of Ghadames, world heritage site.