I am proud of my heritage | World Heritage Day

Yesterday, 18th April, marked World Heritage Day, also known as International Day for Monuments and Sites. Every year, this day raises awareness of the importance of protecting cultural heritage and to celebrate the vast diversity of heritage around the world.

The significant day was proposed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in 1982, and was later approved by the UN General Assembly in 1983.

Like previously stated, the purpose of World Heritage Day is to raise awareness of the importance of preserving cultural heritage. These include:

• Historic Buildings such as the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House in New York
• Monuments such as The Angel of the North in Newcastle, UK
• Archaelogical Sites such as Pompeii, Italy

Not only this, but it encourages us to celebrate and appreciate the diversity of the world’s heritage and how it has shaped us throughout the past, here and now in the present, and how it continues to shape our futures.

Every single person on the planet has heritage, its in our blood, memories, and is shown through scars and marks on our physical bodies. For me, my Sri Lankan heritage is so important to me. It has shaped who I am and who my children are, their children, and so-on.

I am proud of my heritage, and I accept the responsibility to preserve it and ensure that my childrens children do so as well.  

The word “responsibility” is important on this day because like me, you also have responsibility to preserve and protect the worlds heritage. When there is responsibility, there is privilege.

I have the privilege of having such a culturally significant heritage and I have the privilege that I have adopted the English heritage through my up-bringing, and I will use this privilege to take responsibility to protect the historic buildings, monuments, and archaeological sites here in the UK and in Sri Lanka.

Likewise, I have privilege that I can visit so many wonderful places around the world and it is my responsibility to look after their heritage, visit it and learn, and fight for its preservation.

World Heritage Day isn’t just a day that celebrates monuments of heritage, it is a day that also helps us to reflect on our own heritage and how that has shaped us and will continue to shape us as beings.