Heritage in the natural and urban landscape
One of the strengths of the European approach to heritage, at least since the seminal European Architectural Heritage Year in 1975, is that it has always taken the bigger context into account. Heritage and monuments do not stand in isolation. They have an impact on their environment and the vice versa. Heritage interpretation par excellence brings heritage and monuments to life by establishing meaningful connections to their environments. To make this happen, The Heritage Bureau has developed a unique methodology that visualises the implicit connections of heritage to its context, be it urban or natural or both. Once these connections are clear, they form the basis for developing heritage interpretation programmes, actions, and products. It also helps to set up long-term heritage policies that have an impact on the urban and natural landscape.
Learning across cultures
Heritage, both material and immaterial, is what makes a culture and its achievements visible. It is also an important element in the transmitting of a culture from one generation to the next. It is what connects a people to its past and to its future. However, cultures do differ from each other. Therefore, it is to be expected that heritage and the way heritage is transmitted differs culturally as well. By confronting the European approach to heritage with the way Asia deals with its monuments The Heritage Bureau stimulates an intercultural dialogue which is based on research and which aims at a mutually enriching contact.
UNESCO World Heritage
The UNESCO World Heritage List has developed into a much desired label for cultural sites and natural scenes across the globe. It is not only a label that promotes the Outstanding Universal Value of a site but it has also become a strong quality label in the tourist business. How to balance the accessibility on the one hand and the authenticity of a site on the other hand is a delicate problem. The Heritage Bureau approaches World Heritage sites in such a way that the interpretation matches the capacity of the place for visitors and takes into account the well-being of the people inhabiting such sites.
Heritage Interpretation Matrix
Many tools and methodologies have been suggested that take into account the multi-layered aspects of a heritage site such as, e.g. the UNESCO Recommendation of the Historic Urban Landscape or the social dimensions of heritage such as, e.g. the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on the European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st century. These tools are very valuable but often lack in practical implementation. The Heritage Bureau’s “Heritage Interpretation Matrix” is an innovative approach that brings together material as well as immaterial heritage in a geographical context and that creates semantic connections which form the basis for practical applications as well as long-term heritage policies.