Heritage Conservation

The challenges being faced by heritage in any geographical zone are addressed by the international guidelines set up by the organizations like UNESCO, ICCROM and ICOMOS. The challenges posed to Jammu’s heritage are multiple and require the stepwise implementation of the tools restore it .The international approach to safeguard the shared heritage lies in local community awareness in terms of capacity building. Jammu requires capacity building to set the stage for heritage preservation . After all, heritage is a local issue that involves the stakeholders who are its living embodiments of culture. The need is to sensitize them about the value of heritage so that they can feel the need to act as the catalysts to be its crusaders.They have to be made aware that they have not acquired this treasure in an instantaneous manner but has come down to them as a continuous stream. They are integral to it as their existence is shaped by their identity as defined by both tangible and intangible aspects of living heritage . And has been envisaged by the triumph of the human spirit over the challenges of nature. Moreover, it is also incorrect to assume that the site managers who are basically the heritage professionals are well aware of the heritage values of the asset .They are the practitioners of the principles adopted to be test checked at various destinations. When the local community explains the spirit of the cultural heritage and its living traditions, only then can these professionals lend a helping hand to administer the guidelines that are of comprehensive nature .It can only be realized after dealing with particular case of heritage that as to what treatment and management plan suits the particular asset having heritage value. Blind cannot lead the blind. It needs some ray of hope by continuous interaction of both the stakeholders and the heritage professionals that involves conservators and historians to define the problem and then seek its redressal. It leads to capacity building and can help to develop the local resource base in terms of the stakeholders who can be trained to address the issues of restoration work in terms of conservation and preservation. It has also to be realized that restoration in conservation terms does not mean that whole of the monument can be restored to its exact pristine glory but at least it will enable to set the heritage asset to some time frame and initiating a process that will end in a recognizable beneficial stage. Another factor that is important is the interpretation of the values. It is not necessary that the community and professionals will understand the same value of heritage. The capacity building of the monument site has to be shaped in terms of norms, values and local society that is the ultimate beneficiary but care should be taken by the site managers to address all these challenges in terms of the collective memory of the community. It has been employed in Zimbabwe. In the similar vein Jammu‘s cultural heritage needs the capacity building on the following lines- Human Creative Genius, Cultural Tradition and Bygone civilization,Associated Events or Living Traditions. This develops as one of the cardinal strategies in involving the local community to check the vandalization as has taken place at Darbar Garh, Akhnoor fort and Moti Mahal. It should lead to co management agreement. It works in the similar lines as in the case of tangible products in other sectors .Keeping in view both the tangibility and intangibility; co management is the necessary conservation imperative that will lead the path for other durable steps of conservation. The co management bodies include the members from both the segments. It serves two purposes one that allows the living traditions to continue in terms of the collective public memory and regulation on the international standards .