Cultural landscapes in non-western countries: Notes on a pilot project in Bamiyan (Afghanistan)

Abstract

Focusing on the concept of cultural landscape has brought significant advancements in the debate surrounding the categories of cultural heritage. Cultural landscape was officially introduced into the heritage categories protected by international agencies in 1992, with the first version of the Unesco “Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention”. However, although more than 30 years have passed since then, the preservation of Cultural Landscape continues to present a number of complicated issues. This article analyses the reasons behind these difficulties and proposes changes in the approach to landscape safeguarding.