Semester Paper

Table of Contents

Contents Page

Introduction 1

Historical Background 2

Architecture and Scenery 2

Present Situation and Supports 3

Conclusion 6

Appendix 7

References 10

Introduction

Petra, an ancient man-made city which is situated on eastern Wadi Araba in Jordan, entered the World Heritage List in 1985. The World Heritage List tabulates the World Heritage Sites since 1972. One site can be inscribed only if it has “outstanding universal value” (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2005). UNESCO is the acronym for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The UNESCO was founded on November 16, 1945 by 33 participating countries. After the World War Ⅱ, those countries met in London and hold the same goal to establish an education and cultural organization (Briney, A, 2011). The purpose of UNESCO is to make a contribution to build peace, eradicate poverty, sustainable development and global communication (UNESCO, 2012). Culture, one of UNESCO’s five major programmes, has several themes and the World Heritage is one of them.

The initial preservation operation of a heritage site started in 1954. Egypt government set the construction of the Aswan High Dam to take full advantage of the water in Nile River, but this action could lead to a flowage and threatened the Abu Simbel Temples. Therefore, a worldwide campaign started, which was initiated by the UNESCO in 1959 to appeal for the conservation. The Abu Simbel Temples had been torn down and then built together in a higher place according to the original shape. This successful project is the beginning of preserving a heritage. On Nov 16, 1972, the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage” (commonly known as World Heritage Convention) was passed on UNESCO General Conference (Briney, A, 2009).

World Heritage Sites are listed by UNESCO since it has unique cultural or...