UNESCO

I have been reading a wonderful study by Dolly Jørgensen on Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age (MIT Press, 2019). The book traces historical connections between emotions and conservation, in other words (as the subtitle has it) “histories of longing and belonging”. 

Here is an extract from her concluding chapter:

I would posit that the same applies for cultural heritage at large. Conservation of cultural heritage is motivated and driven by emotions and a sense of longing for what the heritage represents. In that sense, saving the heritage at the same time means to save ourselves…