World Heritage Patinas

The text briefly analyses Brazil’s history of international cooperation within the United Nations, and subsequently looks at the country’s experience in applying the Unesco Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, from 1978 to the present day. The improvement of the methods of the Convention by Brazil and the application of this experience for the improvement of the preservation policy at the national level are seen as the main result of the international cooperation for the patrimony. However, the moment is one of uncertainty and perplexity. What are the country’s prospects for cultural heritage at a time when Brazil is turning its back on international cooperation, especially in the fields of the environment and human rights. Will the Brazilian system heritage preservation system, built up over decades, be solid enough to survive these times of denial of universal values?

In Brazil, the policy of preserving cultural heritage has been developed for over eighty years. The international recognition of Brazilian cultural properties has been established in the country since 1980, with the inscription of Ouro Preto on the UNESCO World Heritage List. After more than 40 years of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972), 15 Brazilian cultural sites are part of this list, of which seven are historical cities, two are urban architectural ensembles, three correspond to archaeological sites, two of them in urban areas, one modern city, one urban cultural landscape and one mixed (cultural and natural) site. Analyzing the challenges and risks of preserving these sites implies understanding the actors of this preservation, what implications can be highlighted as a result of this recognition, and how to confront them with a view to providing sustainable management. The present text is based on the latest initiatives produced in the institutional field in order to contemplate, within the management framework, reflections and operative measures that favour the achievement of this objective. In this case, the national and international meetings produced at the initiative of Iphan in the discussion of the rehabilitation of historic urban sites (Brasília 2002), the management of historical cities (Goiás 2003), the management of modern cultural heritage (Belo Horizonte 2017), the management of World Heritage sites in Brazil (Goiás 2018) and the economic potential of the heritage in its tourist dimension (Porto Alegre 2019) should be highlighted. In addition to this, the text also addresses the fronts of action undertaken by the non-governmental sector, committed in particular to the preservation of this heritage, such as the Organization of Brazilian World Heritage Cities—OCBPM, highlighting the results obtained in the process of articulation for a strategic management of Brazilian cities declared World Heritage, notably based on their national meetings. Finally, the text points out, on the one hand, the central demands of these cities in Brazil, identified and ratified in this process, and also signals the answers that the Public Power, on the part of the administration, is seeking to give, culminating in the presentation of reflections on the challenges of managing this World Heritage in Brazil. Aspects such as the preferential attention to be given through customized investments, the construction of concertation processes between the public and private sectors and the citizenry in order to guarantee sustainable processes, programmatic integration in the face of the recognition of the transversality of cultural heritage and its economic potential, should be highlighted.

Since the listing of the first churches and convents located in the Historic Center of Salvador (CHS), in 1938, a few months after the creation of IPHAN, the tutelage of the federal preservation agency over the area has progressively expanded. Today, the architectural, urban and landscape complexes of the Historic Center of Salvador and Lower Town, contiguous and protected by IPHAN, cover an area of more than 80 hectares, containing tens of thousands of properties. Although, over the past 80 years, there has been a progressive expansion of the legally protected areas in the CHS, it is not possible to say that the area is in a better state of conservation or with greater vitality than at the beginning of this process. This situation arises from several processes, which include, since the creation of a new urban centrality, in the 1970s, a few kilometers east of the founding city, to the adoption of requalification programs that proved to be wrong, and also by the weak articulation between the various spheres of government in the management process and in the planning of interventions carried out in the area.

This paper aims to discuss the meaning of the title of world heritage site in Brazil by problematizing the site selection process run by the State, based on an analysis of assets that have already been listed, as well as those included in the indicative list.

How to deal with the pain related to the memory of the slavery, when it becomes heritage? Could the process of patrimonialization become a way of healing this traumatic past? In this chapter I propose to discuss the meaning of sensitive memory sites related to the history of African slavery in Brazil, focusing on the case of Valongo Wharf, recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. I also intend to analyze how local black communities could participate, discussing the ways of representing the history of our ancestors, considering the suffering of slavery and also their capacity to fight for life and freedom. The history that can be narrated when crossing the pathways of the Valongo Wharf, in Rio de Janeiro, where thousands of enslaved Africans landed between the end of the 18th century until 1831, is at the same time painful and affirmative. In addition to the crucial aspects of violence, there is also resistance and celebration of the struggle for life as strong symbols. The region of Valongo as a whole is a place of memory. In the area near the quayside, besides the warehouses where enslaved people were sold, dwellings of a population that worked in the services offered by the port and commercial activity began to appear, especially from the second half of the 19th century onwards. In the houses of black families, often headed by women, nocturnal drums accompanied religious celebrations in which deities of African origin took on new garments in the Brazilian diaspora. I will tell a story that, in a broader perspective, crosses the ocean and relates to the African Diaspora in the Americas, as well as to many other parts of Brazil, in which, through the internal and coastal routes, black people circulate - and with them, their ideas, knowledge, technology, and spirituality.

The article presents a reflection on the complexities and contradictions of world heritage sites management processes, specifically in the Brazilian case of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble, which was inscribed in the cultural landscape typology in July 2016, on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization—UNESCO. The case study aims to demonstrate that the inscription of cultural landscapes located in urban areas on the World Heritage List is a recent phenomenon, and as such, requires a review of the concepts and methodologies previously in force in the field of urban cultural heritage management and conservation. In the midst of contemporary discussions about the management of cultural landscapes, the value-based approach and the concept of cultural significance stand out, as both deal with the “management of change” inherent in the field of cultural landscape conservation and management. In light of this background, the article aims to reflect on the following issues: (1) What are the developments and effects of the inscription of the Pampulha Modern Ensemble as a Cultural Landscape on the World Heritage List? (2) What are the contemporary methodological approaches for the conservation/management of a Cultural (Urban) Landscape? (3) What would be the limit of acceptable transformations in a world heritage cultural landscape without losing its O.U.V.—Outstanding Universal Value? The article intends to problematize and promote reflection on such questions, aiming to elucidate the transformations that have occurred both in the symbolic and conceptual dimensions, as well as in the policies and instruments of preservation of cultural heritage over time, and to discuss the concepts, theories and practices of conservation and management of cultural heritage, especially of world heritage cultural landscapes.

The thirty Jesuit-Guarani missions, established in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, formed a rich territorial system that left a significant cultural legacy for the platinum region, shared by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. From the point of view of the built heritage, several of the settlements were destroyed and under some of them new settlements were formed; there are ruins recognized and protected as world, national or local heritage, consolidated and presented as archaeological sites; and also in other settlements there was continuity in the settlement, maintaining the cultural tradition. Because of their universal significance, the remnants of the six villages with the highest degree of integrity (three in Argentina, one in Brazil and two in Paraguay) have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In 2015, together with the Misiones de Moxos and Chiquitos, in Bolivia, also inscribed on the World Heritage List, they were recognized as MERCOSUR’s Cultural Heritage. An important topic is the insertion of indigenous populations. In Brazil, the institutional relationship with the M’Byá Guarani has intensified as a result of the Inventory of Cultural References conducted by the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage, as a result of the proposal to present new narratives on the Missions and, in particular, to understand the relationship of the Guarani with the remaining missionaries. Cultural tourism presents itself as a viable alternative to increase the value and use of the cultural heritage of the Missions in all its dimensions (natural, material, and immaterial) and also as an instrument for the reconfiguration of the system, with the possibility of new redefinitions and to structure circuits in a perspective of sustainable development. The aim of this communication is to collaborate with the comparative reading of the sites, with the discussion about the missionary system today and also to suggest lines for the integrated and shared management of heritage and cultural tourism.

In this article, I discuss several situations that historically influenced the formation of the notion of world heritage, beginning with the French Revolution, passing through the institutionalization sketches of the international preservation of heritage and its dissemination throughout the nineteenth century universal and international exhibitions, culminating in the elaboration and implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention by UNESCO. For the construction and consolidation of this notion of world heritage, it was fundamental to increase concerns about preservation beyond European and, by extension, Western borders. Accordingly, the Western creation of Orientalism as a field of knowledge and the inclusion of cultural property belonging to other nations outside its borders has proven to be paramount. Among these, those referring to Egypt stand out, both in the eighteenth century, when the process effectively begins, until the last quarter of the twentieth century, when the aforementioned notion of world heritage was implemented.

What to teach and what to learn at the postgraduate level? The problem that arises today focuses, firstly, on the question “how to teach” and “how to learn”. But we can go further! How to teach and how to learn about a city that, besides its own particular features, is also a World Heritage site? Considering that the Historic Centre of Porto, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996, can be understood as a learning laboratory, the paper named “the experience of managing the city of Porto as a World Heritage Site: how to teach and how to learn?”, written by Maria Leonor Botelho and Lúcia Maria, aims to address two pedagogical projects developed at the Master’s level, first in the History of Portuguese Art and then, in Art History, Heritage and Visual Culture of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. Both projects, conducted by the MA students, had the production and the publication of a virtual exhibition on the Google Arts and Culture platform, Porto World Heritage (2015) and Porto de Virtudes (2017) as the main product, although other outputs were created. The first results of these experiments have already been published and discussed in several scientific meetings. With this paper we intend to revisit these projects, thinking about them in an integrated way and as instruments for learning and managing the city and particularly Porto as a World Heritage site.

Since the approval, in 1972, of the World Convention on Cultural and Natural Heritage, until today, the Latin American continent has contributed to decentralizing the excessive primacy that the heritage assets of the regions of the developed world (Europe and the United States) had. Furthermore, it has attracted greater attention to the cultural diversities existing in the peripheral regions of the planet, which has allowed an enrichment of the categories and types of heritage. In a world of constant tension and change, between the pressures of global development, the inclemency of natural and human risks, and regional and local forces, World Heritage Sites are called to become spaces of enrichment of the multiple identities of the communities that give meaning to their places of roots. This type of property allows the resignification of people and communities with their changing natural, territorial, and landscape contexts, with ways of life and with social practices. It is for this reason that an adequate understanding of the role played by World Heritage Sites in the twenty-first century would allow us to face the urgent challenges of sustainable development, integrating the social, economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions of the Latin American region. This work reflects on the new paradigm that should guide the conservation and management of these heritage assets, a pending and deficient aspect in the regional reality. That is, under an approach based on the meanings and values ​​that the communities exercise as central actors in the process. Within the framework of this paradigm, the fundamental elements of a system of conservation and management of heritage assets are exposed. Among them, the work of monitoring and evaluating the state of conservation of its Universal and Exceptional Values, and its conditions of integrity and authenticity, stands out.

Listed as a World Heritage Site because of its cultural syncretism between East and West, the nomination of the “Sites of the Hidden Christians in the Nagasaki Region”, Japan, has revealed old and new paradigms for the safeguard of the Intangible Heritage, as some of the oral tradition and local rites are at risk of disappearance due to demographic and socio-economic changes in the region. Thus, based on a broad theoretical framework and field research in Nagasaki, this study will address the main historical aspects that supported its nomination; challenges in preserving the intangible heritage among minority groups; and, finally, some strategies found by the local community and the Japanese government, through the Agency for Cultural Affairs, to preserve local history and traditions. In short, a battle against oblivion itself.

Research developed from methods of environmental history and the study of the cultural landscape in Israel. Study of two World Heritage sites in Israel in the twenty-first century: that of the architectural complex of the White City of Tel Aviv and that of the Incense Route which centuries ago articulated cities in the Negev desert and other parts of Asia. The prospects for management, preservation, technical cooperation, tourism and sustainable development are confronted with the disputes and directions of national politics and Israeli geopolitics. Will Israel’s departure from UNESCO in 2019 lead to changes in national World Heritage policies?

After years of requests from CRAN, the Representative Council of France's Black Associations, the French president publicly announced the intention to restitute the African tangible cultural heritage present in French Soil and has asked two great experts to make a report, moving towards a concrete plan. Dutch museums make movements in the direction of restitution and reparation and the German civil society mobilizes to demand the same of the country's museums. The Colombian and Peruvian governments have formally asked Spain and American institutions to give back cultural objects of their pre-hispanic pasts. In this scenario of an increasing number of initiatives of devolution and demands of restitution of objects taken from colonial or analogous to colonial circumstances, from indigenous communities… How does Brazil figure? Does this country of continental proportions, rich and varied past, including approximately 2 million of original native population before the Portuguese arrival and 300 hundred years of colonial history have disputes or dialogues in course with foreign countries and institutions on this matter? Has Brazil been searching for, claiming back and repatriating its colonial or indigenous cultural objects abroad? Yes, it has. But why do we not hear about these cases? Who are the parties involved - the demanding ones and those to whom the demands are addressed? Can we outline their social, historical, institutional profile? How have the claims been made? Which political, ethical, historical, legal arguments have they used? How have the foreign parties in the discussion reacted? Have the demands been successful? Which were the consequences of the process for the party returning and the party receiving the cultural objects in question? This text aims to answer these questions, reassembling and analyzing the thus far known cases, thus making a panorama of the situation of the return of ethnological cultural objects in Brazil.

The selection of World Heritage in Danger as a theme, more specifically, the factors of risk that threaten Cultural sites, derives from the understanding that the sense of loss is a strong promoter of heritage safeguard. With the present article, we have as main goal the realization of a critical reflection on endangered world heritage sites through a multinational perspective, based on the analysis of three case studies that can illustrate some of the main threats that harm cultural sites. For that end, several sources will be addressed from international documents like Conventions and national decrees, but also the documentation available on UNESCO’s Official Website. The essence of the research will focus on the evolution of heritage safeguard mainly from the 70s of the 20th century, and until the 2nd decade of the 2000s. The present text aims to contribute to a global and more humanized perspective on World Heritage in peril. It also intends to innovate through the recognition that the sense of loss is a major promoter of the protection of endangered sites.

UNESCO recognized the set of historic buildings of Ouro Preto in 1980 giving it the title of World Cultural Heritage. Following Portuguese colonial construction method on steep slopes, the first inhabitants built buildings underpinning one another. Construction materials were local quartzite stones and gross wood pieces. These remaining twin buildings sets scattered over the city are especially important scenes of contemporary Ouro Preto and motivated its recognition by UNESCO. The aim of this work is to make a brief evaluation of fire safety policies in Ouro Preto evidencing fire risk parameters on important sets. It was found that actual occupation of the buildings generates an important fire risk. Awareness of the population is expressed by citizen’s movements asking national and municipal authorities to pay attention to fire safety. The Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) has made efforts to tackle this issue in building’s conservation guidelines. But there is much more to be done to reduce fire risk on these historic buildings in order to set them at an admissible level.

Minas Gerais is recognized by UNESCO as the Brazilian state with the largest amount of cultural goods in the country. Thus, the region starts to stand out in the national and international cultural scene. Hence, it is worth making an analysis of the element which has most disappeared in the state: Catholic sacred art. This occurs through thefts in religious buildings, which have occurred since the 19th century, in the state of Minas Gerais. These robberies and thefts show an embezzlement in the Brazilian cultural/sacred collection and mainly within the groups that experienced them. As a result, these goods have become the target of highly specialized criminal groups. Therefore, they are part of the illicit traffic of art and heritage and help to place the latter at the top of the largest traffics in volume in the world. This crime is recurrent until today and, in most cases, it does not end with the recovery of the stolen collections. It is important to mention that, for the article, news and publications in printed and electronic newspapers about thefts of sacred works are used as a research base, dealing with the disappearance and, sometimes, the recovery of these objects. In addition to the emphasis given by these sources to the disappearance of sacred art, they also address the issues involved with it such as traders, collectors and antique dealers who illegally purchase these pieces. Therefore, we intend to understand the impact of these thefts on cultural heritage.

The aim of the current article is to identify some of the issues underneath the cultural heritage depredation observed in Cusco, such as the corruption in official institutions responsible for protecting cultural heritage and the ideology of modernity in Latin American spaces, based on the analysis of two recent cases. Both issues are complementary in discourses in favor of works aimed at enabling tourist growth, which were consolidated as local and national economic development strategies in compliance with the Western modernity discourse. Since the founding of new states in America, the pursuit of the Western modernity paradigm, which was later articulated through concepts of progress and development, led these spaces to passively assimilate ideas that were implemented to the detriment of local populations and of their cultural productions. These ideas privileged the cultural heritage of European origin and subjected these populations to the predatory scheme of global tourism. They were implemented in the contemporary cultural heritage field by means of international meetings sponsored by international organizations since the second half of the twentieth century. A broader perspective about cultural heritage, always based on the Eurocentric approach, was gradually formed in meetings where local residents were introduced as significant elements to the production and preservation of such heritage. However, such an introduction was based on a vertical education scheme, according to which, residents could be educated for this purpose. Nevertheless, based on the herein analyzed cases, local residents’ participation is not passive because they organize themselves to contradict the official discourse threatening the cultural heritage they are identified with. They not only expose the consequences of losing their cultural heritage but also highlight the corruption observed in institutions responsible for protecting it; such corruption worsens the crisis currently affecting the cultural heritage in Cusco City. The first case analyzed in the current study refers to the construction of Sheraton Hotel on Saphy Street, in the historic district of Cusco City, which lacks national and international regulations focused on its preservation. Likewise, the second analyzed case refers to the construction of Chinchero Airport, which has been depredating the Sacred Valley and threatening to place Cusco City in Unesco’s list of endangered cultural heritage. The actions taken by official bodies, which have put the cultural heritage at risk, and the response of social groups that have organized themselves in its defense at national and local levels were herein analyzed. These aspects had been previously addressed in my master’s thesis (2020), but I herein return to them given their relevance for the analysis of cities classified as World Heritage by UNESCO.

This paper aims to analyse the influence of European modernity on the actions of civil society and the Peruvian state at all levels of the social structure. And, more specifically, European modernity as a key element for understanding the social dynamics that affected the preservation of the huacas, spaces considered sacred by the members of the original civilizations. Thus, this general framework operates as a scenario where all the attacks suffered by the Chan Chan archaeological complex during the period from 1986 to 2020 are inserted. The choice of this temporality is related to the need to understand how the destructive behaviour of civil society and the inaction of the Peruvian State were not modified by the recognition of the Chan Chan citadel as a world heritage site by UNESCO; neither were they modified by the notices of revocation of the title. This leads us to an even more complex scenario, where the reluctance of civil society and the Peruvian State to modify their practices is essentially due to an identity factor built on European modernity; expressed, in part, through the archetype of the Creole - a white colonised subject -, which fluctuates between pride in their cultural heritage and the destruction of the same, an ambiguity that makes it a complex phenomenon, which we will try to elucidate in this paper.

This paper is a reflection on the relationship between historical research and the public narrative that seeks to question the political meanings behind the presence of the slavery past at the present time based in two different experiences: the nomination and recognition of the Valongo Wharf as World Heritage by UNESCO and the development of the project of tourism of memory “Passados Presentes” (Pasts Presents) (www.​passadospresente​s.​com.​br).

With the purpose of presenting some perspectives of network activity within the theme of cultural heritage supervision, the article “Control of movable property circulation and network performance: perspectives for the supervision of cultural heritage” analyzes the horizontality of the control activities of the circulation of movable cultural heritage, observing the performance of the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN), federal agency for the preservation of cultural heritage in Brazil. To what extent could the premises of acting in a network contribute to rethinking the inspection of cultural heritage? The positive effects of coordinated intersectoral activities offer some possibilities for the supervision of cultural heritage.

The aim of this work is to present, in general lines, the history of Brazilian and Italian legislation regarding the protection of cultural goods, comparing the way each norm defines and covers the theme of guardianship, its unfolding in the field of institutions and its advances and setbacks. The choice of Italy as a comparative element is justified by the fact that it is today the country with the largest number of sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, with 55 inscriptions (Brazil has 22 sites), and by the remarkable flow of tourists to the peninsula as a destination, ranking 5th in the world ranking of the World Tourism Organization (Brazil is in 45°). Furthermore, the Italian expertise in the field of restoration, with names such as that of Cesare Brandi and her Central Institute of Restoration (ICR), is recognized internationally. These are just a few examples of how Italy instrumentalises its soft power in order to achieve economic benefits and international insertion. Considering the post-unification period in Italy, the first law of guardianship of monumental heritage in that country dates from 1902. In the case of Brazil, the law regulating the protection of the national historical and artistic heritage was passed on November 30, 1937, during the Getúlio Vargas government. Over the years, we have numerous complements and updates in both legislations. Based on the assumption that the norm is the organizing agent and promoter of the protection and enhancement of cultural goods and activities, and considering the relevance of the European country, as explained above, to the subject in question, it is understood that a comparative study to the Brazilian norm for the cultural heritage sector can contribute to the understanding of different mechanisms of protection, enhancement, and also to the evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of each model.

This article presents a study on international relations built by the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) during the period of Renato Soeiro’s administration (1967–1979), a period when it is commonly acknowledged that the institution’s greatest internationalization process took place. Soeiro, as director of IPHAN, was responsible for adapting the federal agency to the changes in the international and national context and managed to reconcile Brazil’s economic growth with heritage preservation, as a result of the expansion of international relations, such as the approximation of the latter with agencies such as ICOMOS, UNESCO and the OAS. Thus, this article makes a brief analysis of the influence of other countries in the development of public policies and heritage preservation projects in the period indicated. It is also intended to explore the concept of soft power in this context, with a view to its applicability in relation to the internationalist agendas of Soeiro.

This research is the result of work that has been developed since 2018 with the Guarani Mbya group living in the Indigenous Land of Ribeirão Silveira, a border area between the municipalities of Bertioga and São Sebastião, located on the northern coast of São Paulo (SP)—Brazil. In this article we intend to demonstrate how the relationship between the healing practices and conceptions of health and disease of the indigenous people is established with the public policies for the health care offered to them. We seek to discuss how legislation understands indigenous knowledge as intangible heritage and how this knowledge and practices are observed and accepted by official policies. This research pointed to a potentially positive action, but one that was unfortunately interrupted by the inefficiency of public power, lack of resources, and interest in promoting actions that could actually go along the lines of the declarations and other international documents. The ineffectiveness of the practices lies not only in the lack of dialogue between health professionals and indigenous people, but above all, in the absence of public policies that actually incorporate the knowledge, desires and needs of these populations into their practices and consider the protagonism of the communities themselves. We were able to observe in the face of this brief experience of rapprochement how transformative these initiatives were and how much potential they had to advance towards an effective dialogue. The rare interest on the part of doctors, the willingness of students to study, research, and work with the indigenous community, and the effective possibility of creating dialogue and building a health policy that actually listens to, respects, and cares about traditional knowledge and the Guarani Mbya way of life, were a glimmer of hope and an encouragement for us to be sure of the right path.

Heritage is a conflictive field by nature. What heritage do you decide to preserve? Who does it? Who is opposed to it? How is it preserved? How does the scholarship dialogue with local communities? How do you educate yourself on heritage? What mechanisms are put into play for its conservation? UNESCO conceptualizes the management plan as the legal, administrative and strategic tool that preserves those values of the sites that the stakeholders have prioritized at a given moment. It contemplates various functions: sustainability, benefits of heritage conservation for human development, being forward-looking, and dynamic. What effects can disasters have on World Heritage properties in general and on these properties in particular? We highlight the necessary dialogue between international documents and the declared World heritage in the state of Minas Gerais. Disaster risk management (DRM) deals not only with the protection of heritage assets against major threats but also with the reduction of underlying vulnerability factors, such as lack of maintenance, inadequate management, progressive deterioration, or the absence of ecosystem protection zones, which can turn hazards into disasters. DRM should be an integral component of the management of any World Heritage property and linked with disaster management systems at the local, regional and national levels. Due to its high complexity, it requires the greater inclusion of possible stakeholders and processes of mediation, conciliation and capacity building before the disaster, during and after the disaster. The Living heritage approach (Poulios 2010) based on “Functional continuity” emphasizes the change in continuity as an overcoming between the past and the present that frequently does not allow a holistic and complex glimpse of the conservation of the property.

The central hypothesis of the article is that Congonhas, a UNESCO world heritage site, began to rethink local identities, thus reflecting an imagery that inspired a long-term view that comprised alternatives to the economic vocation of mining. Besides, it entailed the rescue of the identity ties with Portugal (a country that inspired the devotion to the Lord Bom Jesus de Matosinhos) and the search for expertise in heritage management and promotion. In this sense, the actions of the following main actors will be mapped: City Hall, Public Attorney’s Office, Catholic Church, civil society and mining companies.

As in any other Brazilian city, over the years urbanistic problems such as disorderly growth, irregular occupations, devaluation of memory and history, with consequent disfigurement of spaces and sanitation have significantly increased in Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais), the first city in Brazil to be considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. However, at the time when the reception of such an honour was being discussed, many were the questions about its benefits and burdens to the city. Months before receiving the recognition of the international organ a series of reports of the Jornal do Brasil (RJ) discussed the functioning of the preservation in the country in face of the infrastructure problems that the city faced, being a long-standing problem and that even poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade had already manifested himself saying that “one of these days, Ouro Preto becomes an ‘Interplanetary Monument’ and its problems will continue without solution”. The debate was heated and generated an indisposition of the periodical with the secretary of culture at the time, who did not find it pleasant to have his concerns reduced to a “harmful parochialism”. Therefore, this article seeks to analyse how the dynamic between preservation and urban ordering takes place in places with large historical nuclei, intending to understand how public power and private sectors deal in daily life with Cultural Heritage.

This article is about the development of the works related to the recognition of the Pampulha Modern Heritage as a UNESCO’s World Heritage since their first steps until the actions after the recognition, examining systematically the process through a critical viewpoint.

Ouro Preto, formerly Vila Rica, in the state of Minas Gerais, is one of the most important and emblematic cities for Brazilian history and culture. Its formation process, its rich cultural heritage and the successive efforts to preserve it have been the object of study and attention by not only specialists in various fields, but also by national and international authorities. The then Vila Rica was the mining centre in the 18th century, stage of the Inconfidência Mineira (The Minas Gerais’ Conspiracy) (1789) and source of inspiration of the modernists who in 1922 identified it as one of the birthplaces of national identity. As the main centre of gold extraction in the 18th century, it provided innovations in architecture, painting and sculpture, following the example of the great artist Antonio Francisco Lisboa, known as Aleijadinho. According to French art historian, curator and restorer Germain Bazin, Aleijadinho was the “Michelangelo of the Tropics”. In 1789, Vila Rica was the stage of the Inconfidência Mineira, led by Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, the Tiradentes, the greatest expression of Brazilian heroism. Tiradentes and Aleijadinho constitute what the poet Manuel Bandeira called “the two great shadows of Ouro Preto”. In 1823, after the Independence of Brazil, Vila Rica became the capital of the then province of Minas Gerais and received from Dom Pedro I the title of Imperial City of Ouro Preto. Declared a National Monument (1933), its architectural, urban and landscape ensemble was listed by IPHAN (1938) and inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO (1980). Ouro Preto is going through a disordered growth process, which has contributed to its partial disfigurement. In light of the problem and of the challenges for the construction of a sustainable heritage policy for the city, a question arises: which have been the actions aimed at associating urban development to heritage preservation?

This article proposes the reading of the Architectural and Urban Complex of Diamantina, Minas Gerais, within its attributes and transformations, throughout the 20th century, as Brazilian Cultural Heritage and World Heritage. The federal overturn (Process nº 64-T-38) occurred in 1938 by the newly created National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service (SPHAN), now IPHAN, the same year that other urban centers of the 18th century also originated from the gold cycle (Serro, Tiradentes, São João Del Rey, Mariana and Ouro Preto) and were recognized as Brazilian cultural heritage.