World Heritage Day 2017: Millions pay tribute to their monuments
On the occasion of the World Heritage Day being celebrated on April 18, people all over celebrated their heritage and paid tributes to monuments on Twitter. The yearly event celebrates culture and heritage and creates awareness on the need to protect and preserve world heritage sites. The theme for this year is sustainable tourism. Let us find out more about World Heritage Day.
What is heritage?
Heritage is understood as something inherited from ancestors including natural, cultural, tangible or intangible assets. French food for instance, is classified as world heritage. They are recognized for their value for history and memory.
World Heritage Day
Also known as the International Day for Monuments and Sites, the idea was proposed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in April 1982 and approved by UNESCO General Assembly in 1983. This year's celebration coincides with the International Year of Sustainable tourism for development. Stated aims include, promotion of diversity and vulnerability of cultural heritage and efforts required to protect them.
Celebrating world heritage sites
UNESCO classifies sites of cultural and physical significance as World Heritage sites. Some of them include the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Further, the total number of sites stand at 1052 constituted as 814 cultural, 203 natural and 35 mixed.
Celebrating Indian heritage
In India, there are over 35 world heritage sites including the Qutub Minar in Delhi and Bodh Gaya temple complex in Bihar. State governments plan to organize heritage walks, lectures and other activities involving the communities in order to raise awareness on conserving India's monuments. Indians used top trending #WorldHeritageDay, tweeting pictures of monuments and heritage sites from their localities.
Bollywood's love for Indian heritage sites
India's world heritage sites have been featured a number of times in Bollywood scenes and song sequences. While Aamir Khan danced around the Qutub Minar in a song sequence in the movie "Fanaa (2006), the Red Fort has been featured in Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015).
Promoting sustainable tourism
Sustainable Tourism is defined by the World Tourism Organization as the tourism that considers social and environmental impacts addressing needs of all stakeholders. A report this year suggested that more than 100 heritage sites are degraded by human activity. Heritage sites and monuments in India face numerous negative impacts of tourism including degradation of natural environment and vandalism and must be addressed.
