A CRITICAL STUDY ON HERITAGE MANAGEMENT AT WORLD HERITAGE SITE-SIGIRIYA, SRI LANKA

Abstract

Heritage denotes everything we suppose has been handed down to us from the past. Although not all heritage is uniformly desirable, it is widely viewed as a precious and irreplaceable resource, essential to personal and collective identity and necessary for self-respect. Hence we go to great lengths, often at huge expense, to protect and celebrate the heritage we possess, to find and enhance what we feel we need, and to restore and recoup what we have lost. Concerns about cultural, natural, tangible, and intangible heritage have caused governments to enact protective legislation, courts to impose penalties, and organizations to conduct awareness campaigns. Heritage has become an important economic attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors and billions of dollars into communities around the world, but what is the heritage that is being protected and promoted? This paper is commentary on the theoretical basis of heritage.

Heritage is the breadth of our traditions, the monuments, objects, and culture. Most importantly, it is the range of activities, meanings and behavior we have acquired. The inheritance is more than conserving, digging, displaying, or restoring an old one. Interesting and interesting, such as historical buildings and archaeological sites. The ideas and memories of our and our identities-songs, recipes, languages, dancing and many other features. Be the subject of a public reflection, debate, and discussion. What is worth saving? What can we, or should we, forget? What memories can we enjoy, regret, or learn from? Who owns "The Past" and who is entitled to speak for past generations? The active public discussion on the material and intangible heritage of individuals, groups, communities and nations is an important aspect of the common life of our multi-cultural world.

The questions posed and the ideas offered are not intended to condone the unregulated movement of cultural or natural materials (heritage) in any form. What comprises heritage differs greatly among people sand over time, but the attachments they reflect are universal. They are expressed by peoples at all levels of technology and of every political persuasion. And heritage is everywhere implicated in what we think about, and what we do with, land, law and justice.