Laws or edicts governing protection of specific places or objects of cultural heritage were occasionally promulgated by rulers or polities over many centuries in various countries. But it was not until cultural heritage became directly linked to histories of nation states that comprehensive legislation began to be developed. England and Sweden created heritage legislation in CE 1600s, declaring that all objects from ancient times were the property of the Crown, thus part of the national cultural patrimony. Modern national-level legislation began in the 1800s in Europe, some European colonies, and the United States. Additional legislation was passed by a few countries between 1900 and 1940. During the 1800s large-scale European and (after 1880) US archaeological expeditions went to the Mediterranean and the Middle East to excavate the monuments and cities of the ‘‘ancient Old World civilizations’’. After 1885 similar expeditions went to Mexico, and Central and South America. Literally tons of artifacts and artworks were carried out of Egypt, Greece, Turkey, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Latin America to fill the great art and natural history museums being built then in Europe and the US. The attendant publicity led to archaeological artifacts and art works having value as curios and art objects, expanding the longstanding markets for Egyptian and Classical objects. Looting increased exponentially, prompting national and colonial legislation designed to define and control legitimate archaeological research through permitting systems, to combat illegal looting, and to retain artifacts and objects of art within, or seek their return to, the countries of origin.
The end of World War II marked a turning point for material heritage legislation and practices in many countries. Massive post-war rebuilding, redevelopment and expansion of cities and transportation infrastructures, and the processes of globalization worldwide, were destroying the historical built environment and archaeological sites at an alarming rate. To counter these threats, in 1972, UNESCO encouraged nations to formulate and implement cultural heritage policies. The focus was on developing nations, many of which had significant ethnically or culturally diverse populations, each often claiming its own heritage-validating symbols. Individual nations responded variously with charters or statements of cultural policy that defined national heritage and preservation objectives. This provided the basis for new, revised, or additional heritage protection legislation to empower the nation states to realize their objectives. A major concern for developing nations was preserving heritage for purposes of cultural tourism as a means for economic development. Some seventy statements of national cultural policies were published by UNESCO during the 1970s. By the year 2005, over 110 nation states had created significant heritage laws and related policies and regulations. Some have overarching laws and regulations, and others covering politically significant subdivisions, for example, the United Kingdom, and the subdivisions of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most nation states have one or more governmental agency or ministry charged to oversee and administer regulations governing their cultural heritage.
After the mid-1970s, there was a broadening of ‘heritage’ to include ‘traditional places’ - sites and cultural landscapes that have mythological, religious, or traditional foodways meanings to specific cultural groups. Well known examples are Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park and Ayer’s Rock in Australia. The worldwide large-scale exploitation and destruction of natural resources, coupled with the development of global-scale environmental movements, led many nation states to pass legislation defining and protecting natural heritage. Some countries created combined natural and cultural legislation and related administrative entities, for example, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The UNESCO World Heritage List, created in 1972, includes both cultural and natural places, as well as cultural routes, or itineraries, such as the Silk Road across Inner Asia and the pilgrimage road from France across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
World History
