Québec City Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place (2008)

2016-06-26 chenjinhui ORCP 0

The spirit of place offers a more comprehensive understanding of the living and, at the same time, permanent character of monuments, sites and cultural landscapes.

Preface: Québec City Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place (2008) was adopted by ICOMOS 16th General Assembly and International Scientific Symposium, 29 Sept.-4 Oct.

Meeting in the historic city of Québec (Canada), from 29 September to 4 October 2008, at the invitation of ICOMOS Canada, on the occasion of the 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS and the celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of Québec, the participants adopt the following Declaration of principles and recommendations to preserve the spirit of place through the safeguarding of tangible and intangible heritage, which is regarded as an innovative and efficient manner of ensuring sustainable and social development throughout the world.

The 16th General Assembly, and more specifically the Youth Forum, the Aboriginal Forum and the Scientific Symposium, have provided an opportunity to further explore the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage, and the internal social and cultural mechanisms of the spirit of place. Spirit of place is defined as the tangible (buildings, sites, landscapes, routes, objects) and the intangible elements (memories, narratives, written documents, rituals, festivals, traditional knowledge, values, textures, colors, odors, etc.), that is to say the physical and the spiritual elements that give meaning, value, emotion and mystery to place. Rather than separate spirit from place, the intangible from the tangible, and consider them as opposed to each other, we have investigated the many ways in which the two interact and mutually construct one another. The spirit of place is constructed by various social actors, its architects and managers as well as its users, who all contribute actively and concurrently to giving it meaning. Considered as a relational concept, spirit of place takes on a plural and dynamic character, capable of possessing multiple meanings and singularities, of changing through time, and of belonging to different groups. This more dynamic approach is also better adapted to today’s globalized world, which is characterized by transnational population movements, relocated populations, increased intercultural contacts, pluralistic societies, and multiple attachments to place.

The spirit of place offers a more comprehensive understanding of the living and, at the same time, permanent character of monuments, sites and cultural landscapes. It provides a richer, more dynamic, and inclusive vision of cultural heritage. Spirit of place exists, in one form or another, in practically all the cultures of the world, and is constructed by human beings in response to their social needs. The communities that inhabit place, especially when they are traditional societies, should be intimately associated in the safeguarding of its memory, vitality, continuity and spirituality.

The participants of the 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS therefore address the following Declaration of principles and recommendations to intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, national and local authorities and all institutions and specialists in a position to contribute through legislation, policies, planning processes and management to better protecting and promoting the spirit of place.

  • Rethinking the Spirit of Place
  • Identifying the Threats to the Spirit of Place
  • Safeguarding the Spirit of Place
  • Transmitting the Spirit of Place
Category
Declaration
Date

2008

Promulgation

ICOMOS 16th General Assembly and International Scientific Symposium, 29 Sept.-4 Oct.

Descriptions

  • It recognizes that the spirit of place is made up of tangible as well as intangible elements, which all significantly contribute to making place and to giving it spirit.
  • It declares intangible cultural heritage gives a richer and more complete meaning to heritage as a whole and it must be taken into account in all legislation concerning cultural heritage, and in all conservation and restoration projects for monuments, sites, landscapes, routes and collections of objects.
  • It calls upon the expertise of multidisciplinary research teams and traditional practitioners in order to better understand, preserve and transmit the spirit of place.
  • It upholds that the spirit of place can vary in time and from one culture to another according to their practices of memory, and that a place can have several spirits and be shared by different groups.

Source

http://www.international.icomos.org/quebec2008/results/pdf/GA_2008_ICNo8_EN.pdf

Download

http://orcp.hustoj.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GA_2008_ICNo8_EN.pdf

References

Intellectual Property

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