The Janus-faced Dilemma of Rock Art Heritage Management in Europe: A Double Dialectic Process between Conservation and Public Outreach, Transmission and Exclusion

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the management strategies applied to rock art in western cultural contexts. How do the persons responsible for rock art sites manage the tension between the two opposing imperatives of, on one side, their conservation and long-term transmission, and the other, their opening to the public to enable their heritage value to be shared and transmitted in the present? What forms do the articulation of conservation and public access take? Drawing on a typology of the many possible configurations, we discuss the choices made by the actors in charge of decorated sites, as well as the variability of some of the criteria considered, such as the 'carrying capacity' of a site, to define visit protocols. We thus demonstrate that the implementation of quotas depends not only on climatic and biochemical factors but on the priorities of the decision-makers and their interpretation of the preservation of a decorated site as well. Finally, our empirical approach leads to a discussion of the accessibility of rock art sites from the angle of heritage access rights and the heritage-making process. What meaning do we ascribe to sites that remain closed and thus cannot be experienced by the public? To what degree are they (still?) heritage sites and for whom? Through an empirical and comparative approach, we address these questions based on an analysis of case studies in France and northern Spain.

Diagnostics and Monitoring to Preserve a Hypogeum Site: The Case of the Mithraeum of Marino Laziale (Rome)

“…Starting from this state of art, the right of public access to this unique and fragile cultural heritage [64], which has never been visited since its discovery which dates back to the 1960s (except for some scholars, technicians and managers), is considered a necessary process for the "heritage-making", as reported in Duval [65], but following the principle of maximum precaution, visits must be supported by a protocol that make it possible the conservation and transmission of the heritage over time. Therefore, opening to the public requires continuous monitoring of the microclimatic parameters and periodic inspections of the state of conservation (three to four times per year) for the correct configuration of the permitted visit protocol.…”