This Presentation is prepared for the Graduate Students. A presentation consisting of basic information regarding the topic. Students are advised to get more information from recommended books and articles. This presentation is only for students and purely for academic purposes.

1. Dr. Virag G. Sontakke
Assistant Professor
A.I.H.C. & Archaeology
Banaras Hindu University
Definition of Cultural
Property and Types

2. Definition of
Cultural Property
and Types

3. Definition of Cultural property
• In the 19th century
• “Which comprised immovables, as well as movables cultural
significance, include prehistoric and important historic
remains”.
• Currently, the term cultural heritage is intangible heritage,
such as crafts, folklore, skills etc.

4. International conventions,
I. The term cultural property was used for the first time in a
legal document in the 1954 Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed
Conflict.
II. The 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of
Ownership of Cultural Property
III. 1972 UNESCO Convention on the World Cultural and
Natural Heritage uses the term cultural Heritage

5. Definition
• According to 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and
its Protocols
• Cultural property is any movable or immovable property of
great importance to the cultural heritage of a people, such as
a) monuments of architecture or history,
b) archaeological sites,
c) works of art,
d) books or any building whose main and effective purpose is to
contain cultural property.
• It includes both tangible and intangible.

6. Cultural Property
• Cultural Property is commonly considered to be tangible (physical,
material) items that are part of a group or society.
• Cultural Property consists :
a) Cultural landscapes,
b) Historic buildings,
c) Works of art,
d) Archaeological sites,
e) Collections of libraries,
f) Archives and
g) Museums.

7. Cultural Heritage
• IN 1972, UNESCO defines “cultural heritage” as
• “The legacy of physical artefacts and intangible attributes of a
group or society that are inherited from past generations
maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of
future generations”.
• This definition clearly demarcate “intangible” and “tangible”
cultural heritage.
• Heritage is the full range of our inherited traditions,
monuments, objects, and culture.

8. Cultural Heritage
Tangible heritage
• Physical objects and artefacts
belonging to culture;
a. Buildings,
b. Historic places,
c. Monuments,
d. Artefacts
Intangible heritage
• Nonphysical intellectual
property,
a) Folklore,
b) Customs,
c) Beliefs,
d) Traditions, k
e) Knowledge, and
f) Language.

9. Definition of Cultural Heritage
According to 1972 World Heritage Convection
Cultural Heritage include Monuments, Groups of buildings and Sites
1. Monuments:
a) Architectural works,
b) Works of monumental sculpture and painting,
c) Elements or structures of an archaeological nature,
d) Inscriptions,
e) Cave dwellings and combinations of features,
Must content of outstanding universal value, for art or science;

10. Definition of Cultural Heritage
Groups of buildings:
a) Groups of separate or connected buildings which,
b) Because of their architecture,
c) Their homogeneity
d) Their place in the landscape,
Must possess outstanding universal value from the point of view of
history, art or science.

11. Definition of Cultural Heritage
Sites:
a) Works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and
b) Areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal
value of
i. Historical,
ii. Aesthetic,
iii. Ethnological or
iv. Anthropological point of view
Must possess outstanding universal value from the point of view of
history, art or science.

12. Natural heritage
• Natural heritage consisting of
• Physical and
• Biological
• Formations,
• which are of outstanding
universal value from the
aesthetic or scientific point of
view
• Geological and physiograpical
formations
• constitute the habitat of
threatened species of
• Animals and
• Plants
• of outstanding universal value

13. Protection of Cultural Property
According to 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its
Protocols
1. Not using the cultural property for any purpose likely to expose
it to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflict.
1. Not directing any act of hostility against the cultural property.
1. Prohibiting, preventing and, if necessary, putting a stop to any
form of theft, loot or misappropriation of, and any acts of
vandalism directed against the cultural property; and,

14. Types of Cultural Property
1. Rare collections and specimens of fauna, flora, minerals and
anatomy, and objects of paleontological interest;
2. Property relating to history, including the history of science
and technology and military and social history, to the life of
national leaders, thinkers, scientists and artists and to events
of natural importance;
3. Products of archaeological excavations;
4. Elements of artistic or historical monuments or archaeological
sites
5. Antiquities more than one hundred years old, such as
inscriptions, coins and engraved seals; objects of ethnological
interest;

15. 1. Property of artistic interest, such as
a) Pictures, paintings and drawings,
b) Works of statuary art and sculpture;
c) Original engravings, prints and lithographs;
d) Original artistic assemblages;
e) Rare manuscripts and incunabula, old books;
f) Postage, revenue and similar stamps;
g) Archives;
h) Articles of furniture more than one hundred years old and
musical instruments.
Types of Cultural Property

16. Listing of Tangible Cultural Heritage
• The three key concepts need to be understood to determine
whether a property is worthy of listing.
• Criteria for identifying historic buildings
1. Historic Significance
2. Historic integrity
3. Historic context

17. Historic Significance
• Must possess the history, architecture, archaeology, engineering
or culture of a property, community, region or nation.
• Particular attention should be paid to association with events,
activities or patterns.
• Distinctive physical characteristics of design, construction or
form, representing the work of a master.
• Distinct town planning features like squares, streets, and
avenues, e.g. Raj path in Lutyen’s New Delhi

18. Historic Integrity
•It is the authenticity of a property’s historic identity,
existed during the property’s historic period.
•Historic integrity enables a property to illustrate
significant aspects of its past.
•Not only must a property resemble its historic
appearance but it must also retain physical materials,
design features and aspects of construction dating from
the period when it attained significance.

19. Historic context
• It is information about historic trends and properties grouped
by an important theme in the history of a community, region
or nation during a particular period of time.
• A knowledge of historic context enables listeners to
understand a historic property as a product of its time.

20. Grading of Structures