This essay aims at understanding what the issues in the management of the World Heritage Sites are, through the examples of the walled city of Carcassonne and Mont Saint Michel and its bay. The historical developments, the demands of a heritage site, and obviously the key operational issues in World Heritage Sites management, will be analyzed by discussing different points of view.
The United Nations for Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was born on November 16, 1945. The organization set itself a wide-ranging and ambitious target: "build peace in the mind of men through education, culture and communication" (UNESCO, 1945).
The "convention about the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage", was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972. This Convention defined World Heritage Sites as "unique sites of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art, or science". In 2006, 830 World Heritage sites were listed of which 644 were cultural, 162 natural, and 24 mixed properties. These sites are spread in 138 States. Since 1978 (date of the first nomination), there have been around 20 to 30 new nominations per year. Far from showing any signs of stopping, nominations tend to multiply.
[...] The population of Mont Saint Michel on its part seems reluctant to conservation initiatives. The Re-establishment of the Mont Saint Michel maritime character project has not received consensus among the inhabitants. looks wonderful under clear blue skies on computer simulation. But the Mont also experiences winter gales, freezing rain, and need to receive heavy gas cylinders that have to get to your front door so you can cook dinner. Have these virtual project creators thought about says an inhabitant (The Guardian, 2004). [...]
[...] The high season for the medieval city of Carcassonne lasts from April to October, with a peak in July and August. Since there is no entrance fee, visitors are left to themselves. They can go to the tourist office located after the main entrance to get a map and some information about the must- see things. To avoid enormous queues in front of the tourist office during summer, receptionists are hired to give information to tourists. They give maps, and eventually tell some colorful anecdotes about the Cité, which is usually quite appreciated by tourists. [...]
[...] It seems that the Mont Saint Michel and the Citadel of Carcassonne regularly go beyond this limit during the peak season. the height summer, Carcassonne can resemble Disneyland in more ways than one, with tourists clambering over each other to take pictures and stock up souvenirs” (The Guardian, 2006). The steep narrow streets of the Mont also become overcrowded with tourists during the peak season. If over attendance grow to be dangerous for the site conservation, the limitation of the number of visitors can be considered. [...]
[...] Popularized by Gustave Nadaud's famous 1863 song ne faut pas mourir sans avoir vu Carcassonne” and its appearance on the big screen in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the walled city was nominated to be declared a World Heritage Site in 1997, and today it is the second most-visited site in France outside Paris. In relation to our general topic of interest, we may not that heritage is commonly defined as “something inherited from the past”. Walsh and Fowler (1992 cited Robb, 1998) distinguished heritage from history by location within the leisure and tourism industry”. [...]
[...] In my opinion, the emotional charge transmitted by a live interpretation with the associated public, can never be replaced by audio guides. Interpretation should always leave something to imagination. The perception of heritage is always associated with the personal referential of the visitor, i.e. his beliefs, values and representations. Heritage arouses emotions involved in the aesthetic feeling. France is lagging behind the Anglo-Saxon world in interpretation. The walled city of Carcassonne does not make an exception. Carcassonne proposes a (paying) guided tour of the Château Comtal and the connected ramparts, by a guide in the old-fashioned way. [...]
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