Limited distribution WHC-94/CONF.003/INF.008
21 November 1994
Original: English
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL,
CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATION
CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION
OF THE WORLD CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE
WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE
Eighteenth session
Phuket, Thailand
12-17 December 1994
Information note: Nara Document on Authenticity. Experts meeting,
1-6 November 1994
Background:
At the sixteenth meeting of the World Heritage Committee, held at Santa
Fe, USA, issues concerning authenticity of cultural heritage were
discussed at length in the context of the test of authenticity found in
the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage
Convention. At the suggestion of ICOMOS, the World Heritage Committee
requested that the concept and application of authenticity to cultural
heritage be further elaborated through international discussions among
experts.
The Government of Japan generously offered to sponsor a major
international conference of experts at the historic city of Nara, Japan,
to further examine authenticity in relation to the World Heritage
Convention.
To prepare for the Nara conference, the Norwegian and Canadian
governments, in collaboration with ICOMOS, ICCROM, and the World Heritage
Centre, sponsored a preparatory workshop in Bergen, Norway, from 31
January to 2 February 1994. The workshop proceedings were published by
Riksantikvaren of Norway under the title Conference on Authenticity in
Relation to the World Heritage Convention.
Nara Document on Authenticity:
At the Nara Conference on Authenticity, held from 1-6 November 1994,
forty five participants from twenty eight countries discussed the many
complex issues associated with defining and assessing authenticity. It
was noted that in some languages of the world, there is no word to
express precisely the concept of authenticity.
The results of the experts' deliberations are contained in the Nara
Document on Authenticity. The World Heritage Committee will note that
there was a general consensus that authenticity is an essential element
in defining, assessing, and monitoring cultural heritage. The experts
gave particular attention to exploring the diversity of cultures in the
world and the many expressions of this diversity, ranging from monuments
and sites through cultural landscapes to intangible heritage. Of
particular importance in the view that the concept and application of
authenticity as it relates in cultural heritage is rooted in specific
cultural contexts and should be considered accordingly.
The experts considered that an expanded dialogue in different regions of
the world and among specialist groups concerned with the diversity of
cultural heritage was essential to further refine the concept and
application of authenticity as it relates to cultural heritage. Such
on-going dialogue will be encouraged by ICOMOS, ICCROM, and the World
Heritage Centre, and will be brought to the Committee's attention as
appropriate.
Recommendation
The World Heritage Committee is encouraged to take into consideration the
principles and views contained in the Nara Document on Authenticity in
its evaluation of properties nominated for inclusion on the World
Heritage List.
THE NARA DOCUMENT ON AUTHENTICITY
Preamble
1. We, the experts assembled in Nara (Japan), wish to acknowledge the
generous spirit and intellectual courage of the Japanese
authorities in providing a timely forum in which we could challenge
conventional thinking in the conservation field, and debate ways
and means of broadening our horizons to bring greater respect for
cultural and heritage diversity to conservation practice.
2. We also wish to acknowledge the value of the framework for
discussion provided by the World Heritage Committee's desire to
apply the test of authenticity in ways which accord full respect to
the social and cultural values of all societies, in examining the
outstanding universal value of cultural properties proposed for the
World Heritage List.
3. The Nara Document on Authenticity is conceived in the spirit of the
Charter of Venice 1964, and builds on it and extends it in response
to the expanding scope of cultural heritage concerns and interests
in our contemporary world.
4. In a world that is increasingly subject to the forces of
globalization and homogenization, and in a world in which the
search for cultural identity is sometimes pursued through
aggressive nationalism and the suppression of the cultures of
minorities, the essential contribution made by the consideration of
authenticity in conservation practice is to clarify and illuminate
the collective memory of humanity.
Cultural diversity and heritage diversity
5. The diversity of cultures and heritage in our world is an
irreplaceable source of spiritual and intellectual richness for all
humankind. The protection and enhancement of cultural and heritage
diversity in our world should be actively promoted as an essential
aspect of human development.
6. Cultural heritage diversity exists in time and space, and demands
respect for other cultures and all aspects of their belief systems.
In cases where cultural values appear to be in conflict, respect
for cultural diversity demands acknowledgment of the legitimacy of
the cultural values of all parties.
7. All cultures and societies are rooted in the particular forms and
means of tangible and intangible expression which constitute their
heritage, and these should be respected.
8. It is important to underline a fundamental principle of UNESCO, to
the effect that the cultural heritage of each is the cultural
heritage of all. Responsibility for cultural heritage and the
management of it belongs, in the first place, to the cultural
community that has generated it, and subsequently to that which
cares for it. However, in addition to these responsibilities,
adherence to the international charters and conventions developed
for conservation of cultural heritage also obliges consideration of
the principles and responsibilities flowing from them. Balancing
their own requirements with those of other cultural communities is,
for each community, highly desirable, provided achieving this
balance does not undermine their fundamental cultural value.
Values and authenticity
9. Conservation of cultural heritage in all its forms and historical
periods is rooted in the values attributed to the heritage. Our
ability to understand these values depends, in part, on the degree
to which information sources about these values may be understood
as credible or truthful. Knowledge and understanding of these
sources of information, in relation to original and subsequent
characteristics of the cultural heritage, and their meaning, is a
requisite basis for assessing all aspects of authenticity.
10. Authenticity, considered in this way and affirmed in the Charter of
Venice, appears as the essential qualifying factor concerning
values. The understanding of authenticity plays a fundamental role
in all scientific studies of the cultural heritage, in conservation
and restoration planning, as well as within the inscription
procedures used for the World Heritage Convention and other
cultural heritage inventories.
11. All judgments about values attributed to cultural properties as
well as the credibility of related information sources may differ
from culture to culture, and even within the same culture. It is
thus not possible to base judgments of values and authenticity
within fixed criteria. On the contrary, the respect due to all
cultures requires that heritage properties must considered and
judged within the cultural contexts to which they belong.
12. Therefore, it is of the highest importance and urgency that, within
each culture, recognition be accorded to the specific nature of its
heritage values and the credibility and truthfulness of related
information sources.
13. Depending on the nature of the cultural heritage, and its cultural
context, authenticity judgments may be linked to the worth of a
great variety of sources of information. Aspects of the sources may
include form and design, materials and substance, use and function,
traditions and techniques, location and setting, and spirit and
feeling, and other internal and external factors. The use of these
sources permits elaboration of the specific artistic, historic,
social, and scientific dimensions of the cultural heritage being
examined.
Definitions
CONSERVATION: all operations designed to understand a property,
know its history and meaning, ensure its material safeguard, and,
if required, its restoration and enhancement.
INFORMATION SOURCES: all physical, written, oral, and figurative
sources which make it possible to know the nature, specificities,
meaning, and history of the cultural heritage.
[NB This text was adopted at the close of the Nara Conference. It
remains subject to further minor modification to reconcile fully
the English and French versions.]