Protection of places of memory as a theoretical and practical issue

Wojciech Kowalski


University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6532-9796

Abstract

As a result of analyse of chosen national and international legal acts author came to conclusion that no definition specifying places of memory as objects of legal protection had yet been adopted in these regulations. However this in no way means that places of memory remain completely outside legal area, although they are covered by the legal system of heritage protection merely within the framework of general definition of heritage. In particular, author argues that places of memory can be protected under 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention as definition of heritage (art. 1) encompasses „historical value” criterion in relation to all elements of this heritage, namely to monuments, groups of buildings and sites. Such thesis is strongly supported by practical application of criterion VI of Operational Guidelines by World Heritage Committee. Almost all monuments and sites inscribed on the World Heritage List under this criterion are to maintain memory of important events, beliefs, ideas etc. Intangible component was therefore a basis of these inscriptions although presence of material component as “a witness” was also important. It is however specially interesting to note that the Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration Camp (1940-1945) was inscribed as the only one symbol of Holocaust what was underlined by the condition that no other such monuments would be inscribed in the future. It seems clear that by this fact the new principle of „symbolic representation” was adopted by Committee. The problem is that such principle has no legal basis, in particular it cannot be found in the 1972 Convention and for this reason decision establishing it is not binding for future inscriptions.


Keywords:

place of memory, legal definition, UNESCO 1972 Convention, Criterion VI of Operational Guidelines

Adlercreutz T., Four issues of Cultural Heritage Law in six European countries. Central Board of National Antiquities. National Historical Museums, Sztokholm 1993.
  Google Scholar

Hunter M., The Preconditions of Preservation: A Historical Perspective [w:] Our past before us. Why do we save it? D. Loventhal, M. Binney (red.), Londyn 1981.
  Google Scholar

Kancelaria Sejmu – Biuro Informacyjne – BIULETYN, z posiedzenia: Komisji Kultury i Środków Przekazu (nr 15), Nr 204/V kad., 11.01.2006.
  Google Scholar

Kończyk L., Pedagogika (miejsc) pamięci, [w:] Ogrody Nauk i Sztuk, A. Kobylarek, A .Gil, L. Kołodziejczak, (red.), Debiuty 2012, Wrocław 2012.
  Google Scholar

Kowalski W., Kwalifikacja wartości zabytku w świetle prawa Stanów Zjednoczonych Ameryki Północnej. Ochrona dziedzictwa kulturowego, nr 2 (16) 2016.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24358/ODK_2016_02_07   Google Scholar

Le Goff J., Nora P. (red.), Faire de l’histoire. Gallimard, Paryż 1974.
  Google Scholar

Miejsca pamięci na tle UNESCO 1972 World Heritage Convention oraz kryterium VI Wytycznych Operacyjnych jej stosowania. [w:] Ochrona Dziedzictwa Kulturowego, Nr 4, 2017.
  Google Scholar

National Register Criteria for Evaluation. Washington, D. C., U.S. Department of the Interior. www.nps.gov/nr/publictions/bulletins/nrb15/nrb152.htm.
  Google Scholar

Nora P., Kritzman L. D., Realms of memory: Traditions. Columbia Univ. Press, Nowy Jork, 1996.
  Google Scholar

Piotrowska K., Uzasadnienie wpisu na Listę Światowego Dziedzictwa w przeszłości i obecnie. [w:] Wyjątkowa uniwersalna wartość a monitoring dóbr światowego dziedzictwa, B. Szmygin (red.), Polski Komitet Narodowy ICOMOS i Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictw, Warszawa 2011.
  Google Scholar

Pruszyńskie J., Ochrona prawna zabytków w Republice Federalnej Niemiec. Teksty i komentarze, Warszawa 1992.
  Google Scholar

Szpociński A., Miejsca pamięci (lieux de memoire) [w:] Teksty Drugie, nr 4, 2008.
  Google Scholar

Tyler N., Ligibel T. J., Tyler I. R., Historic Preservation. New York, Londyn 2009.
  Google Scholar

Ustawa bawarska z 25 czerwca 1973 roku, Denkmalpflege Informationen. The Bavarian State Conservation Office. Protection and Preservation of Historic Buildings and Archeological Sites in Bavaria. Monachium 1987.
  Google Scholar

Values and Heritage Conservation. Research Report. The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles 2000.
  Google Scholar

Watzke H. G., Cramer J., v. Kodolitsch P., Federal Republic of Germany [w:] Protection and cultural animation of monuments, sites, and historic towns in Europe. German Commission for UNESCO, Bonn 1980.
  Google Scholar

Zaborski M., Monuments and memorial sites in Poland and Germany [w:] Memory and Politics of Cultural Heritage in Poland and Germany, K. Ziemr (red), Warszawa 2015.
  Google Scholar

http://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-hritage/the-slave-trade-and-abolition/sites-of-memory: Black British History in the 18th and 19th Centuries I Historic England (dostęp: 16.03.2018).
  Google Scholar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_of_Historic_Parks_and_Gardens_of_special_historic_interest_in_England (dostęp: 16.03.2018).
  Google Scholar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_England (dostęp: 16.03.2018).
  Google Scholar

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/registered-battlefields/ (dostęp: 16.03.2018).
  Google Scholar


Published
2018-02-28

Cited by

Kowalski, W. (2018). Protection of places of memory as a theoretical and practical issue. Protection of Cultural Heritage, (5), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.35784/odk.860

Authors

Wojciech Kowalski 

University of Silesia in Katowice Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6532-9796

absolwent Wydziału Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Od 1975 roku związany z Uniwersytetem Śląskim, a następnie także z Politechniką Śląską w Gliwicach, gdzie jest profesorem zwyczajnym na Wydziale Organizacji i Zarządzania. Autor ponad 100 publikacji naukowych w języku polskim i językach obcych, wygłosił także wiele referatów i wykładów za granicą, w tym w Nowym Jorku, Paryżu, Edynburgu, Londynie, Wiedniu, Waszyngtonie, Oxfordzie, Hadze, Moskwie, Athens (Georgia, USA), Nashville, Heidelbergu, Santiago de Compostela i w Stambule. Jest członkiem ICOMOS, a w ramach polskiego Komitetu tej organizacji członkiem Sądu Koleżeńskiego, a także założycielem Committee on Legal, Administrative and Financial Issues (ICLAFI).



Statistics

Abstract views: 387
PDF downloads: 168