Worldheritage Forum

Outstanding Universal Value

Posted on 13. January 2006 um 20:11 Uhr
» International UNESCO World Heritage

The official text of UNESCO's World Heritage Convention tells us:

Article 11
2.On the basis of the inventories submitted by States in accordance with paragraph 1, the Committee shall establish, keep up to date and publish, under the title of "World Heritage List," a list of properties forming part of the cultural heritage and natural heritage, as defined in Articles 1 and 2 of this Convention, which it considers as having outstanding universal value in terms of such criteria as it shall have established. An updated list shall be distributed at least every two years.
reference:http://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/

In April 2005 the City of Kazan (Republic of Tartarstan, Russian Federation) hosted an expert meeting to define this three world more clearly.

In a Background Paper provided by ICOMOS it is written:

Criteria of Outstanding Universal Value

Each identification for the world list of monuments and sites of outstanding universal value in the sense of the Convention means - just as in individual countries the preparation of national or regional monument lists - documentation of monuments and sites or cultural properties on the basis of an evaluation following certain criteria. These criteria, however, may change from time to time and we should be aware of the change of values that this entails. For example, the so-called artistic value depends to a certain degree on the taste of the time; it is therefore not an absolute but only a relative value. Also in the past decades there have been changes in what the societies of the various regions of the world consider to be important within the chronological/regional framework of the history of humankind. This also finds expression, for instance, in the considerably expanded "modern" definition of monument.
While in our time there is a strong dominance of purely economic values, in former times there used to be fierce discussion about cultural value orientation, eg if we think of the famous querelle des anciens et modernes of the 17th century in France - the question whether outstanding universal values could only be achieved by imitating the Antiquity or if expressions of the creativity of one's own time were also allowed.
reference:http://whc.unesco.org/temp/POL/ICOMOS%20OUV%20Paper%20final.doc

IUCN (The World Conservation Union) states concerning the concept of outstanding universal value:

OUV is thus the central construct of the Convention and IUCN considers the following issues are relevant in defining its meaning:

• Outstanding: For properties to be of OUV they should be exceptional. IUCN has noted in several expert meetings that: “the World Heritage Convention sets out to define the geography of the superlative – the most outstanding natural and cultural places on Earth” (Thorsell, 1997);
  
  
• Universal: The scope of the Convention is global in relation to the significance of the properties to be protected as well as its importance to all people of the world. By definition properties cannot be considered for OUV from a national or regional perspective; and
  
  
• Value: What makes a property outstanding and universal is its “value” which implies clearly defining the worth of a property, ranking its importance based on clear and consistent standards, and assessing its quality.
  

reference:http://whc.unesco.org/temp/POL/FINAL%20IUCN%20Background%20Document%20for%20Kazan%2004.04.05.doc

In Paragraph 49 of the Operational Guidelines the issue is described:

Outstanding universal value means cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national
boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity. As such, the permanent
protection of this heritage is of the highest importance to the international community as a whole. The Committee defines
the criteria for the inscription of properties on the World Heritage List.
reference:http://whc.unesco.org/archive/opguide05-en.pdf

The topic offers a wide field for further discussion. The importance for UNESCO's World Heritage Convention is immense.

Tatar part of Kazan in the early 20th century.(reference: Wikipedia, GNU)