Visiting a World Heritage Site
Depending on where you live or work, historical or cultural sites could fall under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage List. Back in 2016, I travelled to Cancun in Mexico and I made it my mission to visit Chichén Itzá — which is on the World Heritage List. By this time, I had also visited the Great Wall of China and the Colosseum in Rome. As I travelled to other World Heritage sites, I became interested in understanding the process of how sites can become part of this list. In this post, I’ll be explaining this process with my visit to Chichén Itzá serving as a case study.
Background
From the image above, you can see the Stepped pyramid of Kukulkan, El Castillo (also known as the Temple Kukulan) — a building which has survived as an example of the Mayan-Toltec civilisation in Yucatan. Chichén Itzá meaning chi (mouth), chen (wells) and Itza (name of the Maya people who settled there) was a pre-Hispanic town (Britannica, nd). Dates for early settlement range between 415–455 AD, according to local sources. Dates for the second settlement in this area range between 967 AD to 987 AD, referring to the migration of Toltec warriors during the 10th Century (UNESCO, 1992–2020).
So from this brief intro, we can see that Chichén Itzá is an incredible example of pre-Hispanic construction and conveying time in a way in which we understand today.
So what’s the criteria for a site like this to become part of the World Heritage List?
From UNESCO’s perspective, the World Heritage List is about its ‘universal application’, meaning these sites belong to ‘all the people’s of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located’ (UNESCO, 1992–2020). This concept is part of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Culture and Natural Heritage (1972) which is an international treaty. Countries are encouraged to accept the World Heritage Convention (1972) in order for historical sites to be eligible for nomination to the World Heritage Committee for inscription on the World Heritage List. When a site becomes part of the World Heritage List, the protection and responsibility of this sites fall on national governments. And countries who have signed the World Heritage Convention agree to identify, protect and conserve their World Heritage Sites for future generations’ (Historic England, 2020).
Mexico accepted this convention on 23 February 1984. Today, in Mexico there are 27 cultural sites, 6 natural sites and 2 mixed sites on the World Heritage List.
Of course, there are criticisms of this process. There are arguments that this ‘seal of approval’ causes more damage to the very sites UNESCO seek to protect and preserve (The Guardian, 2015). With easier transport links to historic sites far away, it does make me wonder who we are protecting these historic sites for. Is it really for the benefit of humanity as a whole? Or is this another form of exploitation where culture has become more capitalised?
