Repercussions of Singularity of Site Authorities in Making Heritage Conservation Decisions:Evidence from Iraq

Different global assertions have recently been made prohibiting the mono approach of decision-makers in formulating heritage conservation policies,due to many unfavourable touristic and political implications.The mono approach has led to exploitation of some sites’cultural standing as well as condoning a veritable remedy of some of their social and urban aspects,and thus threatening these sites with exclusion from the World Heritage List.This paper investigates the approach of some local Iraqi experiences of conservation,aiming at revealing some of the more painful repercussions of the singularity of site authorities in planning for built heritage future,which may draw a plan for the site away from its heritage potential.Some local cases are reviewed here,such as Erbil Citadel,setting them as examples that may add more facts to the global experience of heritage conservation in this regard.The paper concludes that the site authorities are also liable to drift as a result of some ramifications that impede setting a deep-sighted strategy,and thus may stray far from delivering the far-reaching aims.Accordingly,the monaural authority approach may need to be synthesised with some of the site’s locally-based views through an overlapped integral loop of interactions between them,which may support the conservation policy-formulation with diverse contributions.

Can politically oriented interventions in built heritage contribute to its authenticity?Erbil Citadel's Babylonian Gate as a case study

Today,the concept of built heritage authenticity is a projection screen for conficting demands and thus a'contested field'.Short-sighted readings started to drag the concept behind different il-considered treatises,in which some heritage aspects loosely outweighed other aspects.Archaeological perspectives that tend to freeze heritage structures in time,such as those that are privileged upon other contemporary socio-cultural issues,while political takes also overshadowed other epistemological prospects,and vice versa.Repercussions have made inclusion of what is regarded as inevitable changes'within the built context problematic as to the re-interpretation and thus assessment of its authenticity.Despite their possible momentary threat to the latter,these changes may add to the cultural value of the context over time,granting new potential that may instead boost its authenticity.This paper investigates the potential continuity of Erbil Citadel's Babylonian Gate as an inevitable change within the site's built context by studying the Gate's controversial political impacts on the context's authenticity.This study affirms that authenticity is a transcendental value of an open-ended progressive nature,which cannot be reduced to a specific period or properties within the historical chronology of built heritage.Hence,authenticity should be approached as a meaningful existential issue,while revelation of its essence and thus its dimension entails precise scrutiny of both the tangibles and intangibles of the context.However,to be part of its authenticity,any change in the context should be adaptable and possibly incorporated as a new value within its cultural strata,thus enabling progressive support for site authenticity.