Exploring visual integrity in World Cultural Heritage Site inscriptions

Abstract

Along with “authenticity,” the criterion of “integrity” is used to evaluate and inscribe all World Cultural and Natural Heritage sites. However, ongoing debates in scholarly, organisational, and political circles reveal much confusion in the interpretation and application of integrity. This confusion is compounded by its common reference as “visual integrity” in World Heritage Committee discussions and inscriptions, despite the absence of this term in the Operational Guidelines that govern these matters. The studyis uncovering the historical connection between integrity and theories on the unity of a work of art, rooted in normative and homogenizing aesthetics. Furthermore, this paper analyzes two exemplary applications of integrity in the inscriptions of two World Cultural Heritage sites: Mbanza Kongo in Angola and Writing-on-Stone in Canada. Through analysis, the current application of integrity is associated with the perpetuation of a homogenizing lens through which heritage sites are visualized.