World Heritage Day is an annual celebration held on April 18th. Undoubtedly, the place you live has rich culture and heritage. It isn’t that easy to define a landmark or area to be a culturally important place as it takes lots of analysis. Let it be anything from natural to man-made areas, it is vital to preserve and protect them with utmost importance. Because it is that cultural heritage of humankind that shows what kind of life people are living, who they are, and from where they have come from. In simple, cultural heritage shows who you are. The culture and heritage differ from every other part of the world accordingly. The day has been created in a way to celebrate all the diverse cultural heritage. The celebration Day also promotes global awareness and attention about the important cultural monuments, sites, and places, their vulnerability, and the efforts needed to protect and conserve them.
“A people’s relationship to their heritage is the same as the relationship of a child to its mother.” – John Henrik Clarke
History of World Heritage Day
World Heritage Day has been celebrated since the year 1984. International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has established this special heritage celebration Day. World Heritage Day is also known as International Day for Monuments and Sites (IDMS). On 18 April 1982, IDMS was proposed by the ICOMOS. The General Conference of UNESCO has approved this IDMS and passed a resolution at its 22nd session in November 1983. The resolution declared 18th April of each year to be celebrated as World Heritage Day. Since then, this day has been celebrated on the same date. Thus the International Day for Monuments and Sites has been traditionally celebrated as World Heritage Day.
The day aims to celebrate all the world’s cultures and promote awareness about the varied cultural heritage, their vulnerability, and the efforts required for the protection and conservation of such culturally important places. ICOMOS is a non-governmental organization that functions on preserving and conserving all the important historical and archaeological heritage sites throughout the world. The organization was founded once after finding a need to protect these valuable locations. Sooner the ICOMOS was supported by experts from hundreds of related fields. ICOMOS has been established on the principles outlined in the Venice Charter aka 1964 International Charter On The Conservation & Restoration of Monuments & Sites.
Thus the idea of celebrating the IDMS came out of an ICOMOS conference held in Tunisia on April 18th of 1982. United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have been supporting the ICOMOS. World Heritage Day is all about raising awareness among the general public about the importance of protecting and preserving various sites across the globe that have achieved world heritage status. Both the natural or human-made area or a structure that has reached international importance are termed to be world heritage sites, and thus all of them require conservation and protection. Currently, there are about 1073 sites have listed a total of which 832 are cultural sites, 206 are natural sites, and 35 are mixed properties in about 167 states.
Other Celebrations on April 18
April 18 is also celebrated as
- Pet Owners Independence Day
- National Pinata Day
- National Columnists Day
- World Amateur Radio Day
- National Lineman Appreciation Day
How to Celebrate the Day
There are lots of ways in which World Heritage Day can be better celebrated. Search for the nearest heritage site near your location, and you can take visit it. Know how you can contribute your effort to preserving the sites and monuments. You can actively spread awareness among people around about the need for protecting and preserving various heritage sites. Organize discussions in the cultural centers, city halls, and other public spaces about this Day. Hang banners and distribute pamphlets in your location as a way to call attention to the day and the preservation of cultural heritage. You can share your views about World Heritage Day and your celebrations photos on social media using the hashtag #HeritageDay.
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