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The term 'sense of place' has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years, but what does it actually mean? And why does it matter?

If you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are. (1) - This quote by the US American novelist Wendell Berry clearly suggests that places are more than just locations on a map. It is the human attachment and stories linked to places that make them special and unique. Sense of place refers to, so to speak, the narrative of a place.
"A sense of place is a unique collection of qualities and characteristics 'visual, cultural, social, and environmental' that provide meaning to a location. Sense of place is what makes one city or town different from another, but sense of place is also what makes our physical surroundings worth caring about." (2)
A sense of place makes people connect with their surroundings, and makes them establish knowledge of and appreciation for the location. This, in turn, nurtures the development of empathy for the place and a feeling of belonging, and leads to greater stewardship. (3)

Sense of place is not a static concept. It evolves and changes over time, such as the social values of the communities who interact with the respective places do. Due to the ever-changing nature of the concept of sense of place, it is important to consider past, present and future social values when creating new places. Moreover, in order to support the development of a sense of place, it is crucial to gain a true understanding of the communities that are to use the area, and to consider their ideas and needs when designing new places. (4)

By providing opportunities to share ideas and take ownership of the project, as well as by involving the community right from the start, Greening the Pipeline aims at creating a solid base for the development of a sense of place and a parkland that generates a feeling of belonging and stewardship.
References: (1) (2) (3) http://playfullearning.net/2014/08/developing-sense-place/ (4) https://www.planning.org/research/arts/briefingpapers/character.htm http://www.planetizen.com/node/56165 http://www.artofgeography.com/info/the-sense-of-place

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Belonging - Why creating a sense of place matters

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The term 'sense of place' has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years, but what does it actually mean? And why does it matter? If you don't know where you are, you don't know who you are.

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The term sense of place has been used in many different ways. It is a multidimensional, complex construct used to characterize the relationship between people and spatial settings. It is a characteristic that some geographic places have and some do not, while to others it is a feeling or perception held by people (not by the place itself). It is often used in relation to those characteristics that make a place special or unique, as well as to those that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging. Others, such as geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, have pointed to senses of place that are not "positive," such as fear. Some students and educators engage in " place-based education" in order to improve their "sense(s) of place," as well as to use various aspects of place as educational tools in general. The term is used in urban and rural studies in relation to place-making and place-attachment of communities to their environment or homeland.

Cultural geographers, anthropologists, sociologists and urban planners study why certain places hold special meaning to particular people or animals. Places said to have a strong "sense of place" have a strong identity that is deeply felt by inhabitants and visitors. Sense of place is a social phenomenon. Codes aimed at protecting, preserving and enhancing places felt to be of value include " World Heritage Site" designations, the British " Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" controls and the American " National Historic Landmark" designation.

Places that lack a "sense of place" are sometimes referred to as "placeless" or "inauthentic"; cultural geographer, Edward Relph investigates the "placelessness" of these locations anthropologist Marc Augé calls these "non-places." Stepping against the kind of reductive thinking that placelessness can lead to, in his book, The Practice of Everyday Life, Jesuit philosopher Michel de Certeau argues that another way of seeing placelessness is to see it as space. For de Certeau,"space is merely composed of intersections of mobile elements" that are not in stasis (117). Place, on the other hand, is space that has been ordered in some way to serve some human need"(117). A park, for instance, is a place that has been constructed "in accord with which elements are distributed in relationships of coexistence"(117) and therefore "implies an indication of stability"(117). de Certeau's ideas became instrumental in understanding the intersections of power and social relations in the construction of place. For de Certeau, placelessness, or "space" was a site for freedom or at least it is the site for what Timotheus Vermeulen sees as "potentially anarchic movement" Outside of de Certeau's ideas, Placeless landscapes are seen as those that have no special relationship to the places in which they are located-they could be anywhere; roadside strip shopping malls, gas/petrol stations and convenience stores, fast food chains, and chain department stores have been cited as examples of placeless landscape elements. Some historic sites or districts that have been heavily commercialized for tourism and new housing estates are defined as having lost their sense of place. Gertrude Stein's "there is no there there" has been used as a description of such places.

Human geographers and social psychologists have studied how a sense of place develops, including the importance of comparisons between places, learning from elders and observing natural disasters and other events. Of particular note is the importance of childhood experiences. Environmental psychologists have quantified links between exposure to natural environments in childhood and environmental preferences later in life. Learning about surrounding environments during childhood is strongly influenced by the direct experience of playing, as well as through the role of family, culture, and community. The special bond which develops between children and their childhood environments has been called a "primal landscape" by human geographers. This childhood landscape forms part of an individual's identity and constitutes a key point of comparison for considering subsequent places later in life. As people move around as adults, they tend to consider new places in relation to this baseline landscape experienced during childhood. Sense of place is used as a model for community-based psychosocial support programs.

Chigbu, U.E. (2013). Fostering rural sense of place: the missing piece in Uturu, Nigeria. Development In Practice, 23 (2): pp. 264-277. View and download article: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09614524.2013.772120

Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, Oxford University Press, 1977. ISBN 0-19-501919-9

Cresswell, T. (2005) Place: a short introduction, Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0672-7

Cresswell, T. (2009). Place. In Thrift, N., Kitchen, R., (eds) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookvolume.cws_home/722034/vol1) pages 384-395.

Cross, Jennifer E. (2001). What is Sense of Place? Department of Sociology, Colorado State University [1]

Gussow, Alan. 1972. A Sense of Place: The Artist and the American Land. San Francisco: Friends of the Earth. ISBN 1559635681

Kunstler, James. Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, Free Press, 1994. ISBN 0-671-88825-0

Lippard, Lucy. The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society, New Press, 1998. ISBN 978-156584248-9

Long, Joshua. 2010. Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-72241-9

Roudavski, Stanislav (2008). Staging Places as Performances: Creative Strategies for Architecture (PhD, University of Cambridge)

Tuan, Yi Fu. 1977. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3877-2

Tuan, Yi Fu. 1990. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-07395-X

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The term sense of place has been used in many different ways. It is a multidimensional, complex construct used to characterize the relationship between people and spatial settings. It is a characteristic that some geographic places have and some do not, while to others it is a feeling or perception held by people (not by the place itself).

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This has a longer report to download and SKIM for info.

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This has a longer report to download and SKIM for info.

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I do not expect you to analyse the whole document. But it has some good background about how people attach to places.

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The research goes beyond the town centres and metropolitan spaces that prevail in urban design policies, to include public open spaces such as markets, parks and allotments, and privately owned spaces such as arts centres.

It found that public spaces play a vital role in developing community ties:

street markets allow people from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds to interact;

parks enable young people to make friends and mix with the wider community;

cafés and arts centres are key social places for mothers and children.

However, some policies are having a detrimental effect on public space:

strategies intended to 'design out crime', such as cutting down bushes, installing vandal-proof street furniture and closing public toilets affected their attractiveness and damaged their usefulness.

The research has important messages for those responsible for planning, developing and managing public space:

regeneration strategies that fail to take into account local attachments to existing places may undermine existing networks within local communities;

public spaces that look good but fail to provide adequate amenities or connections to existing social and economic networks will result in sterile places that people just do not use.

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The research goes beyond the town centres and metropolitan spaces that prevail in urban design policies, to include public open spaces such as markets, parks and allotments, and privately owned spaces such as arts centres.

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The New Yorker: The Endurance of Notre Dame

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The New Yorker: The Endurance of Notre Dame

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It's hard to blame the gargoyles. For a hundred and seventy-five years, they protected Notre-Dame de Paris from war, weather, and tourists-and, arguably, they managed to do the same under considerable duress one year ago, when, on April 15th, a blaze nearly destroyed one of the world's most famous cathedrals. The fire started early in the evening, sparking in the dry rafters of the roof. Priests and firefighters raced to save the relics, liturgical artifacts, and art inside. They were largely successful, but within two hours the fire had spread throughout the roof, and the seven-hundred-and-fifty-ton spire had fallen, along with most of the latticed timbers of the vaulted ceiling.

Legend has it that gargoyles are supposed to prevent this sort of thing. Notre-Dame has some of the most famous grotesques in all of Europe, but the creatures, and that legend, originated in nearby Rouen. In the middle of the seventh century, the story goes, a water-spewing dragon was terrorizing that city, flooding its fields and eating its virgins-but when a priest (and soon-to-be saint) named Romanus approached it with a crucifix, the creature surrendered. Romanus burned the dragon at the stake, and, although the dragon's body turned to ash, its head, apparently made of some kind of demonic or dragonic Kevlar, would not catch fire. So Romanus erected what was left of the beast outside his church, where, eventually, rain started to pour through it. Mounted dragon heads then became a thing, and soon churches all around Europe had waterspouts carved to look like dragons. In French, the word for gargoyle- gargouille -has origins in the words for throat and gurgle.

Notre-Dame has its fair share of gargoyles, but, as lexicographers would have you know, its most famous beastly adornments don't qualify: those demonic-looking lions, dogs, elephants, and birds that line the roof don't channel water and are therefore technically called chimeras. In a new book that surveys the nine hundred years between when the cathedral was built and when it nearly burned down, the novelist Ken Follett explains how those creatures came to be part of it, and argues that their addition, in the nineteenth century, marked the beginning of the cathedral's architectural and cultural renaissance. It is a timely reminder that change is a part of the life of such places and that renovation can do more than just return us to the status quo. " Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals " (Viking) was written in a single week, immediately after last year's fire, and, because Follett's proceeds from the book are being donated to the restoration fund, it is meant not only to commemorate the building's past but to help insure its future.

Like Mark Twain and riverboats or Michael Crichton and dinosaurs, Follett and cathedrals are inseparable, thanks to his best-selling historical novel " The Pillars of the Earth," which was published in 1989. When Notre-Dame started burning, news outlets began calling Follett for commentary, and he spent the night of April 15th doing nonstop interviews. Before reporters tracked down historians and architects who could explain what was happening in Paris, Follett inferred that the fire probably began in the roof, predicted that the vaulted ceiling would fall, and warned that it might take all of the church's stone pillars with it when it did. He knew this partly because he had written a version of that scenario into "Pillars of the Earth"; in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, a cathedral burns and then collapses. "The sight of such a mighty building being destroyed was strangely shocking," Follett had written, "like watching a mountain fall down or a river run dry." Such was the shock felt around the world last year, when millions watched in disbelief, as flames billowed from the stone church on Île de la Cité, and waited with horror to see if the whole cathedral would collapse. One of the epigraphs to Follett's new book comes from the French magazine Paris Match, which wrote of the global response, "Today, they weep for her in every language."

Follett's new book, six short chapters in total, opens with the fire but then goes back to the cathedral's beginnings and moves through history chronologically, starting in 1163, the year Bishop Maurice de Sully decided that he needed a grander church. Warming weather and more reliable harvests had just begun to bring Europe out of the Dark Ages, and cities across the Continent were thriving. Paris was no exception, and its bishop decided to celebrate with a construction project. The site designated for the cathedral had long hosted religious services; Christian churches had already occupied the spot, the first dating to before the sixth century, and even before that it was home to a temple to Jupiter.

Before they went goth, most cathedrals were Romanesque: stout castle-looking structures with rounded arches and fewer windows. The one Sully inherited when he was appointed bishop fit that bill, but he took a liking to the new architectural style that was then taking shape, ordered the extant cathedral to be destroyed, and designed a Gothic one to be built in its place. A nave with a hundred-foot ceiling made the church the tallest in the world at the time, and after twenty-six years a high altar was consecrated so that services could start taking place inside. Construction continued for another seven decades, until, finally, two two-hundred-foot limestone towers grew from the ground, the rose windows got their stained glass, and bells were cast to give the cathedral its voice. By 1260, the church was largely finished, and the bishop who had started it was long dead.

More than five centuries passed, and Notre-Dame kept watch as kings were crowned, wars raged, empires spread, and plagues swept the globe. The cathedral suffered greatly during the French Revolution, when it was deconsecrated and briefly renamed the Temple of Reason, its religious icons damaged by iconoclasts and its royal iconography removed. Any history of the cathedral must pause in these years to consider the possibility that it might not have endured; either the hostilities or the neglect of secularism could have done it in. After the revolution, the cathedral was returned to the Catholic Church and reconsecrated, and Napoleon chose it for his coronation, in 1804. But Follett rightly dwells on the role that another writer played in its rescue. Victor Hugo was already famous for his poems and plays when his publisher offered him an advance for a historical novel to be set in Paris. He procrastinated for years but eventually settled down and wrote "Notre-Dame de Paris" quickly, nearly two hundred thousand words in less than five months. He published the book in 1831.

Hugo's story is as colorful as the stained glass in the church, full of wild characters and equally wild rhetorical flourishes. And, like Follett, he includes a prophetic passage about a terrible fire. "All eyes were lifted to the heights of the church," Hugo writes, "above the rose window, a tall flame rose between the two bell towers with a tornado of sparks, a tall flame reckless and angry, from time to time shredded into the smoke by the wind. . . . The innumerable sculptures of devils and dragons took on a dismal look. The restless brightness of the flames made them seem to fidget. There were laughing vipers, yapping gargoyles, salamanders fanning the fire with their breath, and monsters that sneezed in the smoke." Today, the tale of Esmeralda, Pierre Gringoire, Claude Frollo, and Quasimodo reads like a romantic fever dream. It was almost universally panned by contemporary critics.

That has seldom stopped a book from becoming an international best-seller. Hugo's did more than that: almost instantly, it began drawing hordes of pilgrims to see the cathedral memorialized in its pages. With so many tourists flocking to Notre-Dame, the government finally had a reason, and the means, to restore the ruined building. It was that restoration, begun in 1844 and overseen by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, that gave us the Notre-Dame we know today. Viollet-le-Duc shored up the structure, repaired the windows, and replaced the bells, but he was far more than a maintenance man, and, in addition to that restoration work, he installed-over the objections of some of his contemporaries-a modern spire and populated the cathedral with the chimeras that have defined it ever since.

Those charming creatures live along the balustrade, watching over the city, delighting tourists who climb the towers and decorating the postcards and posters visitors take home. Some are anthropomorphic, others pure beast; collectively, they feature arms, wings, beards, horns, beaks, fangs, feathers, and extremely long tongues. One in particular has always struck me as a far better representation of the mind at work than Rodin's "Thinker": Stryga, who sits with chin in hand, tongue protruding like a concentrating six-year-old, looking simultaneously serious, impish, and petulant.

Perhaps it was the chimeras that protected Notre-Dame from the bombing of Paris during the Second World War. Certainly it was as likely to be destroyed by air raids as the Louvre, which was emptied of its most precious works of art. In the penultimate chapter of Follett's book, he takes readers to the cathedral on August 26, 1944, the day after France was liberated. That morning, an American priest led a mass mostly for the U.S. Army's 12th Infantry Regiment. Later that day, as unidentified (although likely German or Vichy) snipers fired from the towers at those gathered, General Charles de Gaulle, at the head of a victory parade from the Arc de Triomphe along the Champs-Élysées, arrived at Notre-Dame, marched into the cathedral, and sang so loudly with the crowd that the sounds of the Te Deum service bellowed out of the bronze doors and into the streets of the city that had been occupied for four years.

It's a stirring scene, and Follett might have done well to leave things there, when the cathedral and the world were linked in tragedy and hope, as they were last year. Instead, the book ends in a year that was not of great consequence for Notre-Dame, even if it was for Follett: 1989, when the author, already famous for five spy novels and a nonfiction thriller about the Iranian Revolution, published "The Pillars of the Earth." The novel sold more than twenty-seven million copies, doing so well that Follett wrote two sequels, " World Without End" and " A Column of Fire." In September, he will add another novel to his Kingsbridge series, a prequel titled " The Evening and the Morning."

"The Pillars of the Earth" is a wonderful work of historical fiction, juxtaposing the brevity of human lives with the long span of artistic vision and architectural creation. It's easy to see why Follett feels his fate is so tied to that of Notre-Dame but a pity that he seems to have forgotten, momentarily, what it and other cathedrals are meant to accomplish: in their scale and grandeur, they steal our breath, bend our knees, and direct our eyes heavenward, reminding us to be humble before the immensity of the universe and the wonders of its creator. Still, one can forgive him for the intrusions of ego that open and close this tiny treasure of a book, partly because almost all of us have taken the beauty of Notre-Dame personally but chiefly because, in donating its proceeds, he models the kind of generosity it will take to make that privilege available to future generations.

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It's hard to blame the gargoyles. For a hundred and seventy-five years, they protected Notre-Dame de Paris from war, weather, and tourists-and, arguably, they managed to do the same under considerable duress one year ago, when, on April 15th, a blaze nearly destroyed one of the world's most famous cathedrals.

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Indigenous perspective

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Notre Dame and the Fight for Sacred Lands

An Indigenous journalist reflects on the 800-year-old cathedral and what "sacred" means to her.

"Part of our slogan has been 'what part of sacred don't you understand?' Essentially we're saying, why isn't it enough for us to say a site is sacred and should be set aside and protected and respected because it's integral for our spiritual practice to be continued."

- Klee Benally, Navajo activist, in an interview for NPR

In Chiapas, Mexico, I first considered the difference between the kind of society that builds monumental architecture in stone and the kind that nurtures great people in buffalo-hide tipis.

I had arrived at Palenque on a chartered bus after spending a week in this place so far from the Great Plains and the Southwest, the homelands of my father's people the Dakota and my mother's people the Diné (also known as Navajo). I was with a busload of Indigenous representatives from Native nations across the Western hemisphere. Tall Lakota men from Alberta and South Dakota, sticking out among their much-shorter brethren, Maya from Guatemala and Mapuche from Chile and Kuna from Panama. We ventured down the trails of the National Park filled with towering temples. The Kuna and Inca come (from Peru) dressed in colorful dresses, speaking quietly but authoritatively in their languages as we set out.

I stumbled upon two Puerto Rican women, one White and the other Black, leaning with their backs pressed upon the wall of the temple, eyes closed to the sun and hands pressed palms down to the stone. I watched them as they began to chant in Spanish, apparently trying to absorb some of the energy from the building.

No other members of the Indigenous delegation did this. The women in the colorful dresses continued to meander through the accumulation of buildings and trees, stopping lightly like birds, pausing from time to time.

Traveling south, my thoughts were continually drawn back to the north. As I walked the jungle paths and looked at the buildings above me, a pain made its way up my throat from my heart. I felt grief for the prairie, its serene emptiness, where my heart and my mind could wander at the center of the world, as central as every bit of grass that blew all around me. Here, in this jungle, I felt extra-one of many things.

As Native people, we were told that we lacked civilization. That we needed the "progress" of Western Expansionism.

In our defense, we often point to the accomplishments of the Aztec, the Mayas, and the Incas-their empires and towering edifices. All this to show we are civilized, we are human, we are your equals.

But as I stared at these temples now before me, I could only think of the ruler who commanded them to be built, and the sort of society that organized itself in such a way to subject some to the needs of others.

My people, the Dakota and the Diné, did not build these things and were without kings or nobles or peasants. What we created instead were the kinship relationships with land and people that organized our societies. These made life worth living for everyone-not just the mighty.

My people built tipis and hogans, where relationships were nourished and stories were told around a fire. As I stared at the temples, I imagined a lodge-a tipi-translucent and glowing from the fire inside it, like a heart.

The name many Indigenous people call themselves is often some derivation of "the people" or even, "the real people." This is what Diné means. My father's people call themselves Dakota or Lakota (depending on the dialect), which means "allies" and "friends," emphasizing the connections and relationships that make them a people. Those relationships include the land and all its people. Lakota people are the Buffalo Nation because our story begins with transformative contact with a spiritual being who is a manifestation of the land itself and transmits instructions on how to live on the Earth.

Contrast this to a colonial society whose origin story is rooted in financial incentives and power derived from occupation and exploitation of other peoples' lands.

So, for me, the question monumental buildings like the temples in Palenque-or the Cathedral of Notre Dame-pose is: What kind of relationships do they represent? Are they equitable? Or are they an expression of power over other people and nature? These are questions about French society that Victor Hugo asked in his writing.

In the past few days, much has been made of how The Hunchback of Notre Dame saved the cathedral by making it a character in the novel, a sanctuary for the innocent Esmeralda, wrongly convicted of murder by a cruel and inept system of justice.

In Hugo's time, the cathedral was in disrepair. A symbol of a corrupt power structure, it had been vandalized and defaced during the French Revolution. Stories matter, and the story of Notre Dame at the time was that it was a monument to oppression. The novel changed that, and the narrative of the cathedral as a sanctuary has lived on worldwide through countless translations and a Disney film. This humanization of a building through storytelling makes readers feel an investment in it, even if we are not French. And Les Miserables (a new adaption is now on Masterpiece Theater) humanized the victims of a criminal system and society that brutalized the poor and women, especially.

But when I watched the roof burn and steeple fall and heard the commentator say that it burned so fast and so hot because the wood was more than 800 years old-harvested from oak trees from France's ancient forests that are no more. I thought of that forest as it once was and wondered who lived there. Did they have any say about it? Did the creatures who lived there? Did the trees? What does it say about the nature of the agreements between a people and the land, itself? Or was the felling of that forest merely an expression of the power of an autocratic ruler?

With nearly a billion dollars raised in a few days to rebuild the cathedral, critics on social media contrasted that with the minuscule amounts raised to rebuild black churches burned by arson. This quickly garnered more than a million dollars of donations for those churches. Does one wonder what would happen if people donated to help restore the lands and homes of tribal nations affected by the recent "Bomb Cyclone" in the Great Plains of the U.S.? And what would happen if the French government, French citizens (including the billionaires who donated hundreds of millions of Euros), and the Roman Catholic Church urged more of the donations to go to other overlooked catastrophes like the victims of Cyclone Idai in Africa?

Those donations would be especially apt given France's history of colonization in Africa. Even Victor Hugo, an ardent opponent to American slavery, stumbled when it came to France's colonization of Africa. "God offers Africa to Europe," he said in a speech in 1879 as France brutally conquered Algeria in the name of civilizing it. "Take it."

In 2014, the "Conseil des Ventes," which regulates auction sales in France, refused to suspend the auctioning of masks sacred to Hopi and Navajo people. The French agency denied the Hopi tribe possessed any legal standing to pursue a cultural claim in France. This ruling not only denigrated an Indigenous nation's political existence (the Hopi is a federally recognized tribe which enjoys a nation-to-nation relationship with the U.S. government) but declared Paris a haven for the trafficking of the sacred items of Indigenous people. This, despite France being a signee of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Klee Benally, a Navajo sacred sites activist, told me how he traveled to Paris to get the San Francisco Peaks, which we call Doko'oosliid and which is one of our sacred mountains, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. While there, he visited Notre Dame. He went in with the throngs of tourists and purchased a votive candle. Taking it back to Doko'oosliid, he lit it there. His prayer was that someday they could see our sacred sites in the same way they view Notre Dame. UNESCO refused to consider our sacred mountain for consideration as a World Heritage site, but maybe someday, if we had a Navajo Victor Hugo write a novel telling the story of our relationship to this sacred being-the Earth and its people-the world would come to understand.

Jacqueline Keeler wrote this article for YES! Magazine. Jacqueline is Diné/Ihanktonwan Dakota and editor of The Edge of Morning: Native Voices Speak for the Bears Ears. Follow Jacqueline on Twitter @jfkeeler.

This article originally appeared on YES! Magazine on April 19, 2019. It is published under a Creative Commons license.

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Jacqueline Keeler: The fight to protect Indigenous sacred sites

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Notre Dame and the Fight for Sacred Lands An Indigenous journalist reflects on the 800-year-old cathedral and what "sacred" means to her. "Part of our slogan has been 'what part of sacred don't you understand?'

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Notre Dame Cathedral: before and after the devastating fire - video

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Notre Dame was within "15 to 30 minutes" of complete destruction as firefighters battled to stop the flames that engulfed the cathedral on Monday evening reaching its gothic bell towers, French authorities have revealed

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Restoration: What does it say that so many are already donating to rebuild the Cathedral?

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Restoration: What does it say that so many are already donating to rebuild the Cathedral?

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Fire engulfs 12th century Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

$1 billion raised to rebuild Paris' Notre Dame after fire

Shock, sadness, but no panic: Minutes that saved Notre Dame

What was lost and saved from the Notre Dame fire?

France does not have big enough trees to replace Notre Dame's medieval beams

Macron: France to rebuild Notre Dame 'even more beautifully'

Notre Dame fire highlights importance of detailed documentation for rebuilding

Fact check: Notre Dame fire conspiracy theories debunked

Watch the moment when Notre Dame's burning spire topples over

The Latest: Hundreds pray by Paris' Notre Dame for 2nd night

Iconic Notre Dame Cathedral hailed as monument to the 'best of civilization'

'I felt disbelief': Canada's Ambassador to France on watching Notre Dame burn

Photos inside Notre Dame reveal extent of damage from fire

Notre Dame's age, design fuelled fire and foiled firefighters

Nations express solidarity with France after Notre Dame fire

L'Oreal joins Apple, French fashion tycoons in donation pledges to rebuild Notre Dame

Twitter sleuths try to ID dad in heartwarming photo taken before Notre Dame fire

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L'Oreal joins Apple, French fashion tycoons in donation pledges to rebuild Notre Dame

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Fire engulfs 12th century Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris $1 billion raised to rebuild Paris' Notre Dame after fire Shock, sadness, but no panic: Minutes that saved Notre Dame What was lost and saved from the Notre Dame fire?

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The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates

The Notre Dame Cathedral, the scene of a devastating fire last night, is of huge historical and cultural significance to France and the world.

The 12th century landmark has housed priceless artefacts, paintings and sculptures and some 13 million people now visit the site every year.
On Monday, the buildings main spire and roof collapsed in a huge fire amid extensive renovations.
The last time the cathedral suffered major damage was during the French Revolution, when statues of saints were hacked by anti-clerical hotheads.

Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures

Barbara Drake Boehm, senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval Cloisters branch in New York was visibly shell-shocked at the news fire had devastated the Notre Dame.

"Civilization is just so fragile," she said.

"This great hulking monument of stone has been there since 1163. It's come through so many trials."

"It's not one relic, not one piece of glass - it's the totality.

"It's the very soul of Paris, but it's not just for French people. For all humanity, it's one of the great monuments to the best of civilization."

The building survived the 1871 Commune uprising, as well as two world wars, largely unscathed.

The construction of the building started in 1163, eventually becoming the site of the coronation for the 10-year-old King Henry VI as King of France, two years after his coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1429.

It was also the site of the royal weddings of James V of Scotland to Madeleine of Valois in 1537 and Mary, Queen of Scots wed Dauphin Francis in 1558.

Following the French Revolution, the cathedral was the scene of Napoleon I's coronation as emperor, with Pope Pius VII leading the proceedings.

Victor Hugo started writing The Hunchback Of Notre Dame in 1829, with the book published in 1831 and going on to become a key text in French literature and subject of film adaptations.

Following France's liberation in the Second World War in 1944, a Te Deum service was held at the cathedral to give thanks to God.

A requiem mass for Charles de Gaulle, who led the French resistance during the war and later became president of France, was held in 1970.

A similar service for Francois Mitterand would be held following his death in 1996.

A week after the terror attacks on Paris in November 2015, crowds gathered at the cathedral to mourn the 132 lives lost in the massacre.

As well as being the site for historical events, it also housed priceless artefacts and objects of huge cultural and historical significance.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed several of the most sacred had been saved, while culture minister Franck Riester said others were being held under lock and key at the city hall.

The Crown of Thorns, purported to be a relic of the wreath of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, was stored in the cathedral's treasury.

Ms Hidalgo tweeted it had been saved.

She said the Tunic of Saint Louis, said to have been worn by Louis IX as he brought the Crown of Thorns to Paris and was kept at the cathedral, was also saved.

One of Notre Dame's most striking features were its stained glass rose windows, which dated back to the 13th century, and adorned the north, south, and west facades, and were treasured artworks in their own right.

It is hoped they were saved from the blaze after firefighters stopped its spread.

Notre Dame also housed two monumental instruments, the Great Organ and the cathedral's bells.

The organ, with nearly 8,000 pipes, dated back to the 1700s and was one of the largest in the world.

The bells, housed in the two western towers, rung out at key moments in France's history.

Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, was the cathedral's bell-ringer.

It is believed the fire was prevented from spreading to the bell towers.

The spire, which collapsed during the devastating fire, had undergone several changes in the building's history.

Millions donated to rebuild Notre Dame after fire engulfs cathedral

The 13th-century spire was dismantled during the French Revolution and later rebuilt in the 1860s.

A brass plate set in stone outside the building also marks "Point Zero" in Paris, the centre of the city. It is the point in France from where all distances to Paris are measured.

A message engraved around the stone reads: "Point zero des routes de France".

The cathedral also houses a beehive over the sacristy, which was added in spring 2013.

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A history of the centuries-old Notre Dame Cathedral

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The Notre Dame Cathedral, the scene of a devastating fire last night, is of huge historical and cultural significance to France and the world. The 12th century landmark has housed priceless artefacts, paintings and sculptures and some 13 million people now visit the site every year.

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Notre-Dame de Paris - Our Lady of Paris - has been one of the most enduring and symbolic monuments of the French capital and among the most celebrated cathedrals in Europe.

To many Parisians, the 850-year-old landmark is quite simply the heart of their city, its two Gothic square towers rising above surrounding buildings along the river Seine.

It is the cathedral of French cathedrals, with one of the longest and richest of histories: the site of royal weddings, the consecration of Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor and the beatification of Joan of Arc. It is also where the public celebrates the lives of the great and good.

It was at Notre Dame in 1431 that Henry VI, king of England, was crowned king of France, and James V, king of Scotland, married Madeleine of France in 1537. Requiem masses were held there for presidents Charles de Gaulle and François Mitterrand.

The stained-glass "rose" rosace on the southern side of the Notre Dame Cathedral is threatened by the fire. Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images

The cathedral was immortalised in popular culture by Victor Hugo in his Gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, later turned into a Disney film.

Notre Dame Cathedral was commissioned by King Louis VII who wanted it to be a symbol of Paris's political, economic, intellectual and cultural power at home and abroad. The city had emerged as the centre of power in France and needed a religious monument to match its new status.

A medieval basilica occupying the site chosen by the king at the eastern end of the Île de la Cité, one of two islands in the Seine, was torn down to its foundations so the new cathedral could be built.

The first stone of what was to be a massive edifice measuring 130m long and 48m wide, is said to have been laid in 1163, in the presence of Pope Alexander III, but it took another 200 years to complete and underwent frequent modifications in the following centuries.

The two towers on the west facade, measuring 69m high, were built in the early 13th century. The north tower is accessible to visitors via a 387-step staircase, while the south tower is home to the cathedral's 10 bells. Among the most famous of the bells, the bourdon - named Emmanuel - has tolled at most major events in the history of France, including the coronation of kings, papal visits and to mark the end of two world wars.

The transept at Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

It was also rung to mark the destruction of New York's Twin Towers on 11 September 2001. The original spire, built around the same time as the towers, was removed in the 18th century but later replaced.

Desecrated during the French Revolution, by the early 19th century, the cathedral was crumbling and half-ruined inside. The crowning of Napoleon as emperor followed by the success of Hugo's novel focused attention on the building, prompting major restorations in the mid-19th century.

As well as the wooden rib-vaulted ceiling which has been largely destroyed by the fire, there are fears about the fate of the extraordinary three "rose" stained-glass windows and the many historical artefacts inside the cathedral, including the 17th-century organ. Several precious religious relics, revered by Catholics, were inside the building. On the roof there were a number of beehives.

As well as a historic monument and tourist attraction - drawing around 13 million visitors a year - Notre Dame is the heart of the Roman Catholic church in Paris.

As the fire raged on Monday evening battled by 400 firefighters, the former mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë could barely conceal his emotion saying he was "immensely sad" at the destruction of the cathedral. He added: "It's an inestimable loss ... Notre-Dame de Paris has to live. We must not resign ourselves to this ... this is the heritage of all humanity."

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Our Lady of Paris: a history of Notre Dame Cathedral

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A masterpiece of Gothic architecture, the cathedral has been a symbol of French capital for 850 years

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the entire world was in pain (opinion) - cnn

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Watching Notre Dame burn, the entire world was in pain

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In a time of inflamed political, religious and sectarian divisions, somehow, a fire in a Catholic church, a cathedral in France, brought the world together in shared sorrow, writes Frida Ghitis. For just a moment, we felt history belonged to all of us, and we mourned our common loss.

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The National for April 15, 2019 — Notre Dame Fire, Alberta Votes, Penticton Shooting

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There are few monuments that are more distinctly French or more woven into the history of France than Notre Dame Cathedral.

As images of the fire ravaging through the historic church sparked outcries around the globe, people from all walks of life are mourning.

Its place in Catholicism is undisputed, as is its role in French history. It was the site of some of the most notable coronations, including that of Emperor Napoleon.

Beyond the Catholics who attend mass there and the tourists who go to look for a glimpse of Quasimodo, the cathedral represents a landmark in Parisian life that is now likely permanently scarred, if not disfigured or ruined.

"Notre Dame Cathedral is the very soul of Paris but so much more -- it is a touchstone for all that is the best about the world, and a monument to the highest aspirations of artistic achievement that transcends religion and time," The Metropolitan Museum of Art said in a statement.

"It has survived so much -- from the French Revolution to Nazi occupation-to watch its devastation is excruciating," the statement continued.

Edward Berenson, a history professor who specializes in French history at New York University, said Notre Dame is "one of the most sacred places, maybe the most sacred place, not only in France but in all of Catholicism. There aren't that many places that are that old and that connected to the history of the church."

He went on, "Notre Dame has evolved into a place where every French person can feel belongs to them, whether they're religious or not, and I think that's the really key point: it has national meaning. It's one of the things that's associated with France even more so than the Eiffel Tower just because it's so much older than the Eiffel Tower."

Beyond its religious significance, Notre Dame was the site of many French coronations.

Notre Dame was built over the course of a century, starting in 1160 and ending in 1260, centuries before any country in North America, South America, or Africa was formally founded. The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.

The cathedral is located at the center of Ile de la Cite, which is the small island in the middle of the Seine River, which Berenson notes "is the original Paris."

"Even before Roman times, [that's] where the first settlements were," he said of Ile de la Cite.

The cathedral is 130 meters long, which is a little longer than a football field, and 48 meters wide. One of the most distinctive aspects of the cathedral is its height, coming in at 35 meters high, according to the cathedral's website.

"Architecturally, it was significant at the time it was built because it was built in the Gothic tradition," said Krupali Krusche, the associate dean of the school of architecture at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, who pointed to the lightness of the walls and the flying buttress support system as two key factors in that style.

She said that the "very thin shell [of the building] and the light buttresses on the shell allow it to reach greater heights than any catholic church previously built."

Another iconic part of Notre Dame is the stained glass rose windows, which are more than 32 feet in diameter. When asked to name some of the most significant and historic aspects of the cathedral, Berenson immediately cited the windows, calling them "priceless."

"You would have to think that they would be unbelievably vulnerable to high heat," Berenson said.

Krusche noted that beyond their beauty, the rose windows "are some of the largest rose windows that you will see around the world" and were unique at the time of their creation.

"Gothic architecture allowed the buildings to be lighter and to go higher, reaching out to the heavens, and then the light allowed it to be having a sense of being able to connect to new knowledge," Krusche said.

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Notre Dame: The national and architectural significance of the historic cathedral

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The famed cathedral is going up in flames. There are few monuments that are more distinctly French or more woven into the history of France than Notre Dame Cathedral. As images of the fire ravaging through the historic church sparked outcries around the globe, people from all walks of life are mourning.

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Like many Pakistani-Americans, my relationship with the country of my parent's upbringing has always been simultaneously intimate and distant. Pakistan is thousands of miles away from the Chicago suburbs I grew up in, but physical distance has never been much of a match for the memory and language of immigrants eager to share their culture with their children.

My recent trip to Lahore was my first visit to Pakistan in twelve years and my first time experiencing the country as an adult - and as a journalist. The two short weeks I spent reporting and reconnecting with family I hadn't seen in years was a deeply personal, loving, and - if you're an overthinker like me - a mentally exhausting experience.

When I arrived, the question of a how a nation deals with monuments from darker pasts was simmering in the back of my mind. As an American journalist watching debates over Confederate-era monuments, and a Pakistani history buff curious about how a young country dealt with colonial statues, I thought my reporting might help me gain some perspective on why monuments matter.

"Monuments epitomize your perception to the past," Tahir Kamran, a historian at Lahore's Government College University, told me. "They're history frozen in time."

Shortly after Pakistan gained independence from British India in 1947, the country began making decisions about monuments of British colonial figures.

"The government of Pakistan, right after 1947, took a decision to remove [the monuments] from public viewing. This was done perhaps because the apprehension was that there would be an agitation against them," Ali Usman Qasmi, a historian of modern South Asia at Lahore University of Management Sciences told me. "They would remind people of the legacy of British imperialism."

One of the monuments was a bronze statue of Queen Victoria at Charing Cross, a public square in Lahore whose significance has been equated to London's Hyde Park.

Queen Victoria's statue is now in the basement of the Lahore Museum, while other colonial British statues were either shipped back to England or damaged. A bronze replica of the Quran took the Queen's old place in 1974 after Lahore held an Islamic Summit, and Charing Cross was renamed Faisal Square after then-Saudi Arabian King Faisal. The move symbolized Pakistan's geopolitical interests as it was forming alliances with Muslim-majority countries in the midst of an oil boom in the Gulf. It also solidified the Islamic identity that had become entwined with being Pakistani.

"Pakistani nationalism was entwined with Muslimness," Kamran said, adding that Pakistan's then-Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, tried to forge "some sort of an umbilical cord with the Muslim world, and the Middle East which is the core of that."

The Pakistani project around public monuments was closely tied with the country's thorny task of nation-building. And while the decisions around those monuments had major political implications, Qasmi said it's difficult to see parallels between debates over colonial monuments in Pakistan and Confederate-era statues in the U.S., largely because of who was part of the conversation.

"The Pakistani government tried to control that debate by keeping it within bureaucratic circles," he said, unlike in the U.S., where hashtags and public protests against Confederate-era monuments have widened participation in the debate.

Perhaps it is easy to characterize debates about monuments as ultimately inconsequential. Pakistanis are used to journalists in their country fixating on more immediate topics-I received questioning looks when I told people I was reporting on monuments, instead of terrorism, gender, sectarian violence or any of the other issues that has made Pakistan the subject of international news. Similarly, there are those who will argue that Confederate monuments are merely historical materials, with no bearing on contemporary politics. But historians will tell you that the presence of monuments - or lack thereof - is highly intentional, meant to send messages to the public.

Qasmi told me that when they are being placed by the government in public spaces, the aim is to create "an ideal citizen through that symbolic representation."

But if there is anything that time has taught us, it is that our notion of what makes an "ideal citizen" has never been stagnant. If our ideals can shift so dramatically with time - bubbling and churning in the throes of public debate and conversation, then our monuments should too.

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What Monuments Can Tell Us About National Identity

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Like many Pakistani-Americans, my relationship with the country of my parent's upbringing has always been simultaneously intimate and distant. Pakistan is thousands of miles away from the Chicago suburbs I grew up in, but physical distance has never been much of a match for the memory and language of immigrants eager to share their culture with their children.

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French officials are reporting that the Notre-Dame cathedral will survive the catastrophic fire that broke out on Monday, although its interior and exterior have suffered profound damage. The first major loss occurred a little before 8 p.m. in Paris, when the cathedral's spire - a 19th-century re-creation of the 1786 original - collapsed in the blaze.

Notre Dame's spire falls.

Heartwrenching to see. https://t.co/qJ4bQKnVSE
- ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 15, 2019

As the fire continued, it began to consume the roof, which had been built from over 5,000 oak trees and had survived since its construction in the 12th and 13th centuries. According to Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet, two-thirds of the roof was destroyed, and cathedral spokesperson Andrew Finot told reporters the medieval wooden interior had been gutted by the fire.

"These cathedrals and houses of worship are built to burn," Vincent Dunn, a former New York City fire chief, told the New York Times. "If they weren't houses of worship, they'd be condemned."

Thanks to the efforts of 500 members of the Paris Fire Brigade, the iconic 226-foot towers on the cathedral's west façade were "saved and preserved as a whole," said Gallet. Built between 1220 and 1250, the bell towers dominate the main entrance for tourists and worshippers. Though Gallet said that "the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved," he added that there was a risk that some interior structures could still collapse and that firefighters would work through the night to cool them.

According to Reuters, within the cathedral, "firefighters battled smoke and falling drops of molten lead to salvage priceless artworks and relics." Some items, like the tunic worn by the 13th-century French king Louis IX (St. Louis), were saved. But firefighters were not able to remove some of the larger paintings in time. Remarkably, the cathedral's gorgeous rose windows, stained-glass panels were created between 1225 and 1260, survived the extreme heat.

By Tuesday morning, officials in Paris also confirmed that the cathedral's 8,000-pipe organ had also survived the fire. "The organ is a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes. It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored," Bertrand de Feydeau, of the preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, told the Associated Press.

Remarkably, pictures emerging from the aftermath of the blaze show much of the cathedral's main vault to be intact, including an astonishing find on the altar:

Crazy photo of the altar inside Notre Dame, by Reuters' Philippe Wojazer pic.twitter.com/KjRPSVKJRA
- Stefan Becket (@becket) April 15, 2019

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What Was Lost and Saved in the Notre-Dame Fire

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French officials are reporting that the Notre-Dame cathedral will survive the catastrophic fire that broke out on Monday, although its interior and exterior have suffered profound damage. The first major loss occurred a little before 8 p.m. in Paris, when the cathedral's spire - a 19th-century re-creation of the 1786 original - collapsed in the blaze.

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As hundreds of firefighters battled the inferno that tore through Paris' famed Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, French officials worried aloud whether the Roman Catholic icon and the priceless artifacts stored within could survive the blaze.

Parisians - and people the world over - breathed a sigh of relief when French President Emmanuel Macron later revealed that the "worst has been avoided" and much of the main structure of the cathedral, parts of which date back to the 12th century, had been saved.

Though the full extent of the damage has yet to be ascertained, here's what we know so far of what burned - and what was spared or salvaged - in the Notre Dame fire.

Saved:

The main structure of the cathedral was "saved and preserved as a whole," reported The New York Times, quoting the Paris fire chief, Jean-Claude Gallet. He added that the building's twin bell towers had been spared despite earlier concerns that the north tower would be overcome by flames.

Notre Dame's intricate stonework facade also appears to have survived, as did at least some sculptures and other structures inside the cathedral's nave and high altar.

Photos from inside the building, taken in the fire's immediate aftermath, show a cross and sculptor Nicolas Coustou's Descent From The Cross, or Pietà, still standing ― though it remains unclear whether either was damaged:

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter that first responders created a "human chain" to save artworks and religious artifacts from inside the burning cathedral.

Hidalgo confirmed that the Crown of Thorns and the Tunic of Saint Louis, among Notre Dame's most precious relics, had been saved.

According to CNBC, 16 religious statues were removed last week from the cathedral ― for the first time in over a century ― for cleaning, thus sparing them from potential damage.

Some Notre-Dame treasures saved by French firefighters https://t.co/4h1e3ETBwl

Two irreplaceable artifacts have been rescued -- the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ and the tunic allegedly worn by Saint Louis pic.twitter.com/3fPA3SySAR
- AFP news agency (@AFP) April 16, 2019

Bernard Fonquernie, an architect who oversaw Notre Dame's restoration in the 1980s and 1990s, told the Times he believed most of the cathedral's furnishings and famed stained glass could be salvaged.

"The stone vaulting acted like a firewall and it kept the worst heat away," he said.

French journalist Laurent Valdiguié said on Twitter that at least one of the cathedral's stained glass windows appeared to be undamaged.

Notre Dame's tremendous organ, boasting some 8,000 pipes, also appears to be relatively unscathed, the Paris deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said on Tuesday morning, per AP.

Day breaks around a forlorn #NotreDame shorn of its famous spire - what else will be discovered damaged in the full light of day pic.twitter.com/dlyWFzxiS3
- Nic Robertson (@NicRobertsonCNN) April 16, 2019

Destroyed:

Notre Dame sustained "colossal damage," particularly to sections made of wood, cathedral spokesman Andre Finot told reporters.

Heartbreaking footage shows the moment the building's delicate spire, which was built in the 19th century, collapsed.

The moment the Notre-Dame cathedral spire collapsed#NotreDame latest: https://t.co/qtVHI2MEuG pic.twitter.com/Cc80Q3WcQQ
- BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) April 15, 2019

Two-thirds of the cathedral's roof was also destroyed, as well as most ― if not all ― of its wooden framework, which consisted primarily of oak.

"The framework, which dates from the 19th century on one side and the 13th century on the other, there will be nothing left," Finot told Le Monde. "We have to see if the vault, which protects the cathedral, will be affected or not."

President Macron has vowed that France, with the help of its friends worldwide, will "rebuild Notre Dame, because it's what the French people expect."

"It's what our history deserves. It's our profound destiny," he said.

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What Burned - And What Was Saved - In Fire That Consumed Notre Dame

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As hundreds of firefighters battled the inferno that tore through Paris' famed Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, French officials worried aloud whether the Roman Catholic icon and the priceless artifacts stored within could survive the blaze.

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The Emotional reactions: (This is a short clip. Feel free to look up others.) People singing as Notre Dame burns

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The Emotional reactions: (This is a short clip. Feel free to look up others.) People singing as Notre Dame burns

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Notre Dame Cathedral Fire: Assessing the damage | DW News

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Notre Dame Cathedral Fire: The world mourns the loss of a Paris icon | DW News

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Notre Dame much more than just a cathedral

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People gathered across Paris in shock and in tears as the Notre Dame cathedral, one of the city's most famous landmarks, caught on fire, sending up giant billows of smoke and flames.

The fire broke out Monday evening local time, and the flames quickly engulfed the cathedral's spire, which was reconstructed in the 19th century, causing it to collapse. Thousands of onlookers watched as the fire glowed red in the spire before the pointed structure splintered and fell over, sending more smoke and flames upward. Flames burned the roof off of the cathedral and authorities cautioned that nothing might survive from the structure's frame.

The official cause of the blaze is currently unknown, though a spokesperson for firefighters in Paris said the fire began in the cathedral's attic. Firefighters said they are optimistic they can save Notre Dame's main structure and towers from the flames.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a speech to the nation Monday night, offered thanks to emergency responders who battled the flames.

"We will rebuild Notre Dame together," Macron vowed. "This is our history, and it's burning."

Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com.

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'This Is Our History, and It's Burning.' Photos From Paris Show Notre Dame Devastated by Fire

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People gathered across Paris in shock and in tears as the Notre Dame cathedral, one of the city's most famous landmarks, caught on fire, sending up giant billows of smoke and flames. The fire broke out Monday evening local time, and the flames quickly engulfed the cathedral's spire, which was reconstructed in the 19th century, causing it to collapse.

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There exist a great variety of Landscapes that are representative of the different regions of the world. Combined works of nature and humankind, they express a long and intimate relationship between peoples and their natural environment.

Certain sites reflect specific techniques of land use that guarantee and sustain biological diversity. Others, associated in the minds of the communities with powerful beliefs and artistic and traditional customs, embody an exceptional spiritual relationship of people with nature.

To reveal and sustain the great diversity of the interactions between humans and their environment, to protect living traditional cultures and preserve the traces of those which have disappeared, these sites, called cultural landscapes, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Cultural landscapes -- cultivated terraces on lofty mountains, gardens, sacred places ... -- testify to the creative genius, social development and the imaginative and spiritual vitality of humanity. They are part of our collective identity.

To date, 121 properties with 6 transboundary properties (1 delisted property) on the World Heritage List have been included as cultural landscapes.

History and Terminology

In 1992 the World Heritage Convention became the first international legal instrument to recognise and protect cultural landscapes. The Committee at its 16th session adopted guidelines concerning their inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Committee acknowledged that cultural landscapes represent the "combined works of nature and of man" designated in Article 1 of the Convention. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal.

The term "cultural landscape" embraces a diversity of manifestations of the interaction between humankind and its natural environment. Cultural landscapes often reflect specific techniques of sustainable land-use, considering the characteristics and limits of the natural environment they are established in, and a specific spiritual relation to nature. Protection of cultural landscapes can contribute to modern techniques of sustainable land-use and can maintain or enhance natural values in the landscape. The continued existence of traditional forms of land-use supports biological diversity in many regions of the world. The protection of traditional cultural landscapes is therefore helpful in maintaining biological diversity.

Categories and Subcategories

Cultural landscapes fall into three main categories (Operational Guidelines 2008, Annex3), namely:

The most easily identifiable is the clearly defined landscape designed and created intentionally by man. This embraces garden and parkland landscapes constructed for aesthetic reasons which are often (but not always) associated with religious or other monumental buildings and ensembles.

The second category is the organically evolved landscape. This results from an initial social, economic, administrative, and/or religious imperative and has developed its present form by association with and in response to its natural environment. Such landscapes reflect that process of evolution in their form and component features.

They fall into two sub-categories:

a relict (or fossil) landscape is one in which an evolutionary process came to an end at some time in the past, either abruptly or over a period. Its significant distinguishing features are, however, still visible in material form.

continuing landscape is one which retains an active social role in contemporary society closely associated with the traditional way of life, and in which the evolutionary process is still in progress. At the same time it exhibits significant material evidence of its evolution over time.

The final category is the associative cultural landscape. The inclusion of such landscapes on the World Heritage List is justifiable by virtue of the powerful religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element rather than material cultural evidence, which may be insignificant or even absent.

Meetings

World Heritage Regional Thematic Expert Meetings on Cultural Landscapes 1992 - 2007

Thematic meeting of experts on the agro-pastoral cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean, Meyrueis, Lozère, France, September 20-22, 2007

Meeting of Experts on Cultural Landscapes in the Caribbean: Identification and Safeguarding Strategies, Santiago de Cuba, November 7-10, 2005
Background paper ingles Nov 3.doc
Background paper español Nov 3.doc
Santiago de Cuba Declaration. ENGLISH.FINAL.doc
Declaración de Santiago de Cuba. espanol.doc

Regional Expert Meeting on Plantation systems in the Carribean, Paramaribo, Suriname, July 17-19, 2001

States Parties Meeting towards a joint nomination of areas of the Alpine Arc for the World Heritage List, Turin, Italy, July 5-8, 2001

World Heritage Thematic Expert Meeting on Vineyard Cultural Landscapes (Hungary, July 2001)
whc-01-conf208-inf7e.pdf

UNESCO World Heritage Centre / Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan / Wakayama Prefectural Government (ed.): UNESCO Thematic Expert Meeting on Asia-Pacific Sacred Mountains. 5-10 September 2001, Wakayama City, Japan. Final Report.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001265/126500e.pdf

Expert Meeting on Desert Landscapes and Oasis Systems (Oasis Kharga, Egypt, 2001)
whc-01-conf208-inf10e.pdf

Regional Expert Meeting on Cultural Landscapes in Central America, San José, Costa Rica, September 27-29, 2000

Thematic Expert Meeting in Potential Natural World Heritage in the Alps (Hallstatt, Austria, 2000)
whc-00-conf204-web2e.pdf

Regional Expert Meeting on Cultural Landscapes in Eastern Europe, Bialystok, Poland, 29 September- 3 October, 1999

Expert Meeting on the Management Guidelines for Cultural Landscapes (Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia, June 1999)

Expert Meeting on African Cultural Landscapes, Tiwi, Kenya, March 9-14, 1999

Regional Thematic Meeting on Cultural Landscapes in the Andes, Arequipa / Chivay, Peru, May 17-22, 1998

Von Droste, B., Rössler, M., Titchen, S. (eds.): Linking Nature and Culture. Report on the Global Strategy, Natural and Cultural Heritage Expert Meeting 25 to 29 March 1998, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (E)

Expert Meeting on European Cultural Landscapes of Outstanding Universal Value, Vienna, Austria, 21 April 1996

Expert Meeting on 'Evaluation of general Principles and Criteria for Nomination of natural World Heritage Sites', Parc national de la Vanoise, France, March 22-24, 1996

The Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Associative Cultural Landscapes, New South Wales, Australie April 27-29, 1995

Regional Thematic Study Meeting 'Asian Rice Culture and its Terraced Landscape', Manila, Philippines, 28 March - 4 April, 1995

Expert Meeting on Routes as Part of the Cultural Heritage (Spain, November 1994)
whc-94-conf003-inf13e.pdf

Expert Meeting on Heritage Canals, Chaffey Lock, Canada, September 15-19,1994

International Expert Meeting on "Cultural Landscapes of Outstanding Universal Value" (Germany, October 1993)

Expert Group on Cultural Landscapes (France, October 1992)

Expert Meetings on Cultural Landscapes organized by States Parties

Monument - Site - Cultural Landscape Exemplified by the Wachau (Austria, October 1998)

Cultural Landscapes: Concept and Implementation (Italy, March 2000)

References

Books and Proceedings

Luengo, A., Rössler, M. (eds.): World Heritage Cultural Landscapes. Elche, 2012.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre:
Heritage Transportation Canal Corridors.
Proceedings of the International Meeting of Experts 15 to 19 September 1994.
Ottawa: Department of Canadian Heritage, 1996. (E/F)

The Cultural Landscape. Planning for a sustainable partnership between people and place. ICOMOS UK London, 2001.

de Belfont, P. et M. Rössler:
Tres Serols, Mont Perdu, nature d'hommes - Sites patrimonial naturel et culturel de l'Unesco
(Le patrimoine rural europeén - Naturopa No. 95, 2001. Strasbourg: Council of Europe (English, French, German edition; http://www.coe.int/).

Hungarian World Heritage Committee, UNESCO World Heritage Centre (ed.):
Proceedings of the World Heritage Expert Meeting on Vineyard Cultural Landscapes.
11 - 14 Juny, Tokaj, Hungary. Nemzeti Kulturális Örökség Minisztériuma, 2002. (English) Short versionCommittee on the Preservation, Development and Utilization of Cultural Landscapes Associated with Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Monuments and Site Division, Cultural Properties Department, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan:
The Report of the Study on the Protection of Cultural Landscapes Associated with Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
12. June 2003, Japan

Fowler, P.J.:
World Heritage Cultural Landscapes 1992 - 2002. World Heritage Papers 6.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2003. (E)

Cultural Landscapes: the Challenges of Conservation. World Heritage papers 7.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2003. World Heritage 2002. Shared Legacy, Common Responsibility. Associated Workshops, 11-12 November 2002, Ferrara, Italy. (E)

Forestry and our Cultural Heritage. Proceedings of the Seminar 13-15 June 2005, Sunne Sweden.
Joint FAO/FCE/ILO Experts Network to Implement Sustainable Forest Management. Swedish Forest Agency/Ministerial Conference on Forests Europe, Warsaw 2006.

Proceedings of the International Symposium, Tokyo 30 May to 2 June 2005.
Conserving Cultural and Biological Diversity: The Role of Sacred Natural Sites and Cultural Landscapes.
UNESCO, Paris, 2006 Réunion thématique d'experts. 20, 21 et 22 septembre 2007, Meyrueis Lozère.

Agnoletti, M. (edited by), The Conservation of Cultural Landscapes, CABI Publishing, 2006. (E)

Les paysages culturels de l'agro pastoralisme méditerranéen.
Réunion thématique d'experts. 20, 21 et 22 septembre 2007, Meyrueis Lozère. AVECC, MEEDDAT, Paris 2008.

Rössler, M. and L. Folin Calabri:
The Cultural Landscape and the Historic Urban Landscape Approach as a Tool to Protect Important Views in Historic Cities.
Paper presented to the Round Table Le Patrimoine Mondial / World Heritage:
Définir et protéger les " perspectives visuelles importantes " Defining and protecting " Important Views " Montreal 18-20 March 2008

Mitchell, Nora, Rössler, Mechtild and Pierre Marie Tricaud (eds):
World Heritage Cultural Landscapes. A Handbook for Conservation and Management. World Heritage papers 26.
UNESCO: World Heritage Centre 2009.

Lerin, François (ed.):
Pastoralisme méditerranéen: patrimoine culturel et paysager et développement durable.
Actes de la deuxième réunion thématique d'experts dur le pastoralisme méditerranéen, 12-14 novembre 2009, Tirana, Albanie.
Montpellier: CIHEAM (Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes), (Série A: Séminaires Méditerranéens, N. 93), 2010.

World Heritage and Cultural Diversity;
Edited by German National Commission for UNESCO, Dieter Offenhäuser, Brandenburg University of Technology at Cottbus, Walther Ch. Zimmerli and UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies, Marie Theres Albert. Cottbus 2010.

World Heritage and Cultural Diversity; Edited by German National Commission for UNESCO, Dieter Offenhäuser, Brandenburg University of Technology at Cottbus, Walther Ch. Zimmerli and UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies, Marie Theres Albert, Cottbus 2010.

Community Development through World Heritage. World Heritage papers 31.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2012.

Paysages culturels du patrimoine mondial: vingt ans d'expérience 1992-2012.
In: 303 La revue culturelle des Pays de la Loire, No. 121/2012.

Luengo Anon, Ana and Mechtild Rössler (eds.):
World Heritage Cultural Landscapes, Elche: Ayuntamiento de Elche, 2012. E/S.

Conserving Cultural Landscapes: Challenges and New Directions, Routledge publishers. Edited by Ken Taylor, Australian National University, Australia; Archer St. Clair, Rutgers University, USA; and Nora J. Mitchell, University of Vermont, USA. Published as part of the series Routledge Studies in Heritage, 2014.

Articles

Luengo, A.: World Heritage agricultural landscapes. In: World Heritage Review; 69, Publ: 2013, p. 8-15

Interview with Francesco Bandarin on cultural landscapes, American Society of Landscape Architects, 8 March 2010

Boukhari, S.:
Beyond the monuments: a living heritage.
In: UNESCO sources; 80. Publ: 1996; p. 7-16 (E, F)
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001033/103365e.pdf
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001033/103365f.pdf

Lu W.:
The Soul of Suzhou's gardens.
In: The UNESCO courier; 53, 12. Publ: 2000; p. 20-22
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001213/121326e.pdf#121333
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001213/121326f.pdf#121333 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001213/121326s.pdf#121333

The integration of cultural landscapes into the World Heritage
In: The World Heritage Newsletter, No. 1, February 1993, 15.

Conserving outstanding cultural landscapes.
In: The World Heritage Newsletter, No. 2, June 1993, 14-15.

Protecting outstanding cultural landscapes.
In: The World Heritage Newsletter, No. 3, December 1993, 15.

Tongariro: first cultural landscape on the World Heritage List.
In: The World Heritage Newsletter, No. 4, March 1994, 15.

The World Heritage Convention.
In: Landscapes: the setting for our future lives. Naturopa No. 96, 1998.
Strasbourg: Council of Europe (English, French, German edition) p.19.

Landscapes in the framework of the World Heritage Convention and other UNESCO Instruments and Programmes. In: Stephan Dömpke and Michael Succow (eds).
Cultural Landscapes and Nature Conservation in Northern Eurasia. Proceedings of the Wörlitz Symposium, March 20-23, 1998. Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU), AIDEnvironment, The Nature Conservation Bureau, Bonn 1998. 24-32.

Rossler, M.:
Applying authenticity to cultural landscapes.
In: APT Bulletin, The Journal of Preservation Technology, Vol. XXXIX, Number 2-3, 2008, 47-52 (also available at www.apti.org).

Rössler, M. and N. Mitchell:
Landscape linkages without boundaries?
In: World Heritage at the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress. DurbanSouth Africa, 8-17 September 2003.
World Heritage reports 16. UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2005, 23-26.
Paysages culturels du patrimoine mondial: vingt ans d'expérience 1992-2012.
In: 303 La revue culturelle des Pays de la Loire, No. 121/2012.

La Convention du Patrimoine Mondial au Travers les Paysages Culturels.
In: Patrimoine et Paysages Culturels. Actes du colloque international de Saint Emilion 30 mai - 1er juin 2001.
Renaissance des cités d'Europe: éditions confluences, Bordeaux octobre 2001, 17 - 21.

World Heritage sites: Towards linking the Tangible and the Intangible.
In: The Full Value of Parks. From Economics to the Intangible, edited by Dave Harmon and Allan Puttney, Rowman and Littlefeld Publishers, Oxford 2003, 197- 210

Enhancing global heritage conservation: links between the tangible and intangible.
World Heritage Review, No 32, 2003, 64-67 (English, French, Spanish and Russian edition).

Linking culture and nature - The Protection of Historic Gardens and Cultural Landscapes under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
In: Michael Rohde und Rainer Schomann (eds.): Historic Gardens Today.
To commemorate the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr. Dieter Hennebo, Edition Leipzig, Seemann Henschel Verlag, Leipzig, 2004, 220-229.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystem Studies: Ecosystem Science and Management.
Island Press: 2005. Chapter 17 Cultural and Amenities Services. 457-474.

Rossler, M.:
Applying authenticity to cultural landscapes.
In: APT Bulletin, The Journal of Preservation Technology, Vol. XXXIX, Number 2-3, 2008, 47-52 (also available at www.apti.org).

Schaaf, T. and M. Rössler:
Sacred Natural Sites, Cultural Landscapes and UNESCO's Action.
In: Sacred Natural Sites. Conserving Nature and Culture. Ed by Bas Verschuuren, Robert Wild, Jeffrey Mc Neely, and Gonzalo Oviedo.
London, Washington: Earthscan, 2010, 161-169.

Paysages culturels du patrimoine mondial: vingt ans d'expérience 1992-2012.
In: 303 La revue culturelle des Pays de la Loire, No. 121/2012.

Cameron, C. and M. Rössler:
World Heritage and indigenous peoples. The evolution of an important relationship.
In: World Heritage Review, No.62, 2012, 44-49. (English, French, Spanish editions)

Charters and
Other Instruments

ICOMOS

International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (The Venice Charter)

The Florence Charter (Historic gardens and landscapes)

Charter for the Protection and Management of the Archaeological Heritage

International Charter on Cultural Tourism

The Nara Document on Authenticity

The Australia ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance (The Burra Charter)

World Heritage Cultural Landscape, ICOMOS Documentation Centre, June 2007

UNESCO

Council of Europe

Links

UNESCO

Advisory Bodies

ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites)www.icomos.org

For landscape issues see also National ICOMOS organizations such as the UK, Australia, USA and others.

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) www.iucn.org/

ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) http://www.iccrom.org/

United Nations

Professional associations

Universities / Institutes

Non-govermental organizations

Other references

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There exist a great variety of Landscapes that are representative of the different regions of the world. Combined works of nature and humankind, they express a long and intimate relationship between peoples and ...