Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. Cultural Heritage is often expressed as either Intangible or Tangible Cultural Heritage (ICOMOS, 2002).

As part of human activity Cultural Heritage produces tangible representations of the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles. As an essential part of culture as a whole, Cultural Heritage, contains these visible and tangible traces form antiquity to the recent past.

Cultural Heritage is a wide concept. We prefer to concentrate on the similarities between the various heritage sectors, instead of on their differences. Cultural Heritage can be distinguished in:

✗ Archaeological sites and monuments.✗ Built Environment (Buildings, Industrial Heritage)✗ Natural Environment (Rural landscapes, Coasts and shorelines, Agricultural heritage)✗ Artefacts (Books & Documents, Objects, Pictures)

What is Cultural

Heritage?

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Having at one time referred exclusively to the monumental remains of cultures, cultural heritage as a concept has gradually come to include new categories.

Today, we find that heritage is not only manifested through tangible forms such as artefacts, buildings or landscapes but also through intangible forms. Intangible heritage includes voices, values, traditions, oral history. Popularly this is perceived through cuisine, clothing, forms of shelter, traditional skills and technologies, religious ceremonies, performing arts, storytelling. Today, we consider the tangible heritage inextricably bound up with the intangible heritage. In conservation projects we aim to preserve both the tangible as well as the intangible heritage.

Heritage sites and buildings can have a very positive influence on many aspects of the way a community develops. Regeneration, housing, education, economic growth and community engagement are examples of the ways in which heritage can make a very positive contribution to community life. This is because:

• The historic environment is a proven source of benefit to local economies, particularly through tourism.

• An attractive heritage environment assists in attracting external investment as well as maintaining existing businesses of all types, not just tourism-related.

• People are very proud of their local history, but don’t always express how much they value a place until it’s threatened. Because it adds character and distinctiveness to an area, heritage is a fundamental in creating a ‘sense of place’ for a community.

• Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings is an important factor in creating sustainable communities.

• Heritage buildings add value to regeneration projects, both in terms the economic and environmental advantage of reuse over new build and in adding character to a precinct.

• Heritage places can be a potent driver for community action.

• Increased community values and greater social inclusion can be achieved through a focus on heritage matters.

• The heritage places are an excellent local educational resource for people of all ages. Learning about the history of a place is a good way of bringing communities together through a shared understanding of the unique cultural identity heritage places give to an area.

Areas where the heritage is understood and valued tend to be better looked afterthan those where heritage items have no link with the community. Such links help to foster civic responsibility and citizenship andcontribute to everyone’s quality of life.

Why Heritage is an

Important Community

Asset

136 Finaghy Road North. BT10 0JD Belfast breochloch@breochloch.net