VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

UNESCO’S Convention has set the framework for Cultural Heritage protection but current challenges have an impact on efforts to enhance cultural heritage significance for people and communities. The Conservation project of the Grade II Listed Greek Church in Manchester is used as a case study to investigate the role and efforts of communities to be a catalyst to enhance the significance of a heritage asset and secure its Sustainable Future.
Constructive Conservation principles can enable communities to safeguard and celebrate their historical religious buildings which they are their beacon of light. Cultural heritage religious buildings of diasporas, around the world, are not only spiritual and educational buildings, but also places of cultural identity and tradition. We aim to investigate and discuss how social values and the sense of cultural identity has created meaningful collaborations in communities which become stronger and more powerful through placemaking. We will study how the challenges in the repair, conservation, and preservation of these buildings could be turned into opportunities for innovative restoration. We will focus on the challenges: the need for continuous conservation management plans and securing funding which could be obstacles that prevent safeguarding heritage assets and threaten the communities’ cultural cohesion and future. Disciplines: Architecture, Conservation, Social History.