Road to World Heritage

What is World Heritage? On what basis and with what methods were attempts made to define it? Although the concept is now widely familiar, we need to outline it here to help us situate our approach to Le Corbusier’s work. The underlying principle of the “World Heritage Convention” [1], adopted at the UNESCO General Conference in 1972, is that States ratifying the Convention commit themselves towards the international community to preserving, in the name of all mankind, the internationally recognized properties located on their territory and officially recognized by inscription on a list. The World Heritage List is drawn up by the World Heritage Committee, the elected representative of the signatory States, on the basis of their proposals, on condition that the properties are considered as being of Outstanding Universal Value.