Heritage is continuously evolving—not just in its form, but also in its scope. Have you really enjoyed your last visit at the BBQ Museum? Are you considering to ask for the playing field where you and your cousin kicked the ball for the first time to be included in the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites? You could be unaware of being part of a much wider phenomenon.
The scope of Heritage has been expanding continuously since at least the mid-20th century. Despite the fact that the criteria for selecting Heritage vary significantly between social groups—sometimes leading to conflicting outcomes—Heritage was generally preserved due to its perceived importance. However, the second half of the 20th century introduced unprecedented revolutions of unparalleled intensity.
The Second World War caused massive destruction of urban historical centers, monuments, museums, and works of art across much of the world, with many of these losses being irreversible. In the decades following WWII, globalization, technological advancements, urban sprawl’s impact on the natural environment, and capitalistic and post-capitalistic economic models all contributed to spreading a broader—though uneven—welfare. However, these sweeping changes also fostered a subtle yet pervasive sense that the old, familiar world was gone forever.
This feeling intensified even further with the rise of the Information Age and the relentless pace of technological progress, which rapidly renders cutting-edge innovations obsolete within mere years—or even months—leading to an altered perception of time.
As a reaction to these factors, a progressive widening of Heritage was carried out at multiple levels. The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has recently included material objects and sites on the Moon on its annual World Monuments Watch of endangered Heritage sites, including for the first time items outside planet Earth, while Martian Archaeology is already a reality (Holcomb2024).
So, if the sight of an old Nokia 3310 (or IPhone 4, depending on your age) deeply moves you and you struggle not to scream “this should be in a museum!”, now you know you are right (and don’t worry, there’s a museum already).
Bibliography#
Harrison, Rodney. 2012. Heritage. Critical Approaches. London: Routledge.
Holcomb, J.A., O’Leary, B.L., Fairén, A.G. et al. The emerging archaeological record of Mars. Nat Astron 8, 1490–1492 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02439-w