When people hear the word ‘cultural heritage’, they usually imagine artefacts such as paintings, sculptures or historical monuments and buildings. But cultural heritage is more than just tangible objects that can be touched; it also includes a wide variety of intangible forms of culture. These can include, for example, dance, music and oral traditions. All these forms of cultural heritage are vital and deserve to be preserved. They are part of the fabric that makes up unique communities and their loss during conflict or natural disasters is extremely devastating.
UNESCO, the world’s leading organisation for protecting cultural heritage, has recognised this fact and has developed an international convention to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. This is an important step because cultural heritage, whether it’s a musical instrument or a historical document, is not just about the past; it’s a conduit for shaping the future. When this cultural heritage is threatened, it can affect the way community members see their own identity and the future of their environment.
But preserving cultural heritage is not easy. One of the major challenges is to find adequate funding. In addition to that, it is also difficult to secure the support of local communities for long-term preservation projects. It is also important to find the right balance between preserving cultural heritage for everyone and maintaining it in its authentic form. This can be a challenge since the perception of what is considered as cultural heritage may vary from person to person.
Some of the most important factors that influence how heritage is conserved and protected are: lack of government concern and professional commitment, illicit trafficking, poor destination management and conservation practice, low level of public awareness and interest, and a negative attitude towards cultural heritage conservation amongst local communities (Mancacaritadipura: 2015).
Moreover, the definition of what constitutes ‘cultural heritage’ is quite complex. UNESCO has defined it as “those properties, areas or sites which are of Outstanding Universal Value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological and anthropological point of view”. This means that the heritage is not only about things that can be touched, but also about those that can be experienced.
This definition is a bit vague and it has been criticised for being too broad and subjective in nature. It also doesn’t take into account the fact that some forms of cultural heritage, such as music or dance, are not necessarily tangible and can be difficult to preserve.
Another problem is that cultural heritage materials are subject to many threats and dangers such as war and conflict, climate change, unsustainable tourism and natural deterioration. The latter is particularly challenging when dealing with fragile documents such as old diaries and manuscripts. That’s where Transkribus comes in – our software is designed to digitise, decipher and make these historical records more accessible for research and the public. That way, we can help in the efforts to safeguard cultural heritage for generations to come.