World Heritage Day – The cultural heritage of Water

 

 

The International Day for Monuments and Sites, known as the World Heritage Day was created on 18th April, 1982, by ICOMOS and later approved at the 22nd UNESCO General Conference in 1983. This special day offers an opportunity to raise public’s awareness concerning the diversity of the world’s heritage and the efforts that are required to protect and conserve it, as well as to draw attention to its vulnerability.

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2011 Theme: The Cultural Heritage of Water

ICOMOS, the advisory body of UNESCO announced Monday as the World Heritage Day worldwide with this year's theme being Cultural Heritage of Water."

Water is one of the key resources required to sustain life. It has led to the development and generation of significant material culture in the form of items, technology and places.
How to obtain it, how to store it, how to harness its power and conserve it has motivated human endeavour in a myriad of ways. It has also been the catalyst for the development of significant cultural practices which have generated intangible cultural heritage values.

This year, the heritage of water is the underlying theme for the World Heritage Day celebration on April 18. Apart from organising long heritage walks and exhibitions, the people of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, will also explore the subject of water storage methods of the past and how those could still be utilised in the contemporary setting.