Heritage Sites: A Blessing in Disguise?

Overexploitation, run-down sites and disneyfication were on the agenda at a UNESCO conference in Lübeck.

Roundtable Discussion at the Lübeck Conference

“Don’t tell anyone about your treasures, advises a delegate from Southern Germany. The Chinese are coming and we really do not know how to deal with this”.

We are sharing a delicious beer under some medieval vaulting in the Brauberger Brauerei, and it is time for some serious talk.  

However, during the conference itself nobody talks about the Chinese tourists. People are polite, although there is an honest wish to confront the tricky questions:

• How are World Heritage Sites to cope with their fame?
• What is it like to live in one and become a museum-object?
• How should we care for heritage sites labelled “fragile – handle with care”?
• What are the future trends and projections in the tourism trade?
• How might sites be managed and developed in the future?  

Limitation of visitors  

First of all, there seemed to be a general agreement that numbers of visitors had to be limited in the future. The specific case of the “Green Vaults” that are magnificent artworks of gold, silver, precious gems, enamel, ivory, bronze and amber in the Dresden Royal Palace were mentioned. Here one has to book months ahead, as the number of visitors is strictly limited.  

This, however, went against the grain where less monuments and more cultural landscapes were granted the popular status. Is it feasible to limit the number of people visiting for instance a whole river valley?  

More education  

In view of this, another issue was agreed upon.  The effort to educate the public must be renewed and redirected. Much more promotional material and marketing effort must be put into telling people what heritage sites are about and what they might mean. Especially the presentations of the cases from The Hadrian Wall and The Loire River Valley were in this connection enlightening. Again, however, the small-talk in the evening triggered the best insights: We need to focus more on telling the story of the people who lived at these sights and less on explaining the landscapes, the buildings and their constructions.

A declaration  

No UN-conference without a declaration. A draft had been prepared and the conference ended in a formal discussion of the formulation of the Lübeck Declaration on "UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe - A Network for Cultural Dialogue".  Most of the participants at the conference recognized, however, that such instruments are always politically correct and end up being devoid of importance.  

St. Petri  

One issue was not formally discussed, but seemed to have a huge impact on a number of the delegates, and that was the setting for the meeting.  It took place in a church in the centre of Lübeck. St. Petri  that serves a double function in the local community. It is a beloved meeting place for exhibitions, lecture-circles, political gatherings and concerts. At the same time it serves as the local church where the less formalized services can take place, such as evening services, liturgical services etc. For some of the participants (the Roman-Catholics?) such a mixed use of a church room seemed highly controversial. For others it was an enlightening experience to be in a beautifully cared for room where secular and religious purposes lived side by side. And then of course we were blessed at the beginning of the conference by the dean, which was of course quite natural. We were guests in his church.