Thouki, A. orcid.org/0009-0004-0610-9290 (2024) How authenticity is negotiated and experienced by clergy and tourists at religious World Heritage sites: taking a closer look into the ‘preserve as found’ strategy. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 19 (4). pp. 623-647. ISSN 1743-873X
Abstract
Drawing on an existing debate regarding the conservation of living heritage, this paper delves into the dissonance and contestation that emerges during the aesthetic treatment of religious wall paintings. The Cypriot UNESCO painted churches open a window for the examination of how policy makers, clergy and visitors negotiate the materiality of religion. This multi-method qualitative comparative case study aims to understand how the ‘material-focused’ Authorised Heritage Discourse retains its hegemony during the conservation of living heritage and how AHD-led practices (‘preserve as found’ strategy) impact visitors’ perceived authenticity and experience. The findings demonstrate that over the years, a centralised decision-making system has been maintained in Cyprus that limits polyvocality, perpetuating AHD-led practices. However, evidence of reconciliation between AHD and living tradition was found, challenging the current assumption that considers anti-restoration (objective authenticity) and living religious tradition as antithetic practices. Interviews showcased that for most social agents, deliberate damage, patina, and graffiti triggered an immersive and highly reflective experience while the prospect of restoration provoked ‘pre-nostalgia,’ a self-awareness that restoration may result in significant cultural loss. The paper concludes that, in future conservation and interpretation strategies, ‘evidence of time’ should be considered a salient quality of ‘heritaged’ churches.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Religious tourism; authorised heritage discourse; objective authenticity; conservation; nostalgia; critical realism |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Mar 2024 16:56 |
Last Modified: | 13 Jul 2024 12:05 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/1743873x.2024.2327439 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:210420 |