HERITAGE MANAGEMENT PLAN

RUBY 0806022

What is a Heritage Management Plan?

Heritage Management Plan(HMP)is a document that sets out the significant heritage aspects of a place, and details the appropriate policies to manage it, so that its values are retained for future use and appreciation. Heritage Management Plan are a means of providing guidance for all activities operating within a heritage property, with a view to achieving holistic and co-ordinated management. A Heritage Management plan aims to provide a framework to conserve the cultural heritage of an asset. It is directed towards improving the understanding of the cultural asset and its interpretation and use as an education resource. Heritage Management Plan is also intended to supported the local community in its cultural, social, economic vitality.

Heritage Management Plan are living documents that need periodic reviewing and must taken to account new knowledge or changes in the condition of fabric or simply to reflect changing perceptions to heritage merit. Heritage Management Plan is a partnership document providing guidance for activities of organisations and individuals operating within the site with a view to achieving holistic.

What is a conservation heritage management plan?

A conservation management plan is simply a document that helps you to understand why your heritage is important and to whom. It also helps you to use that information to look after it. It includes your management and maintenance plan. The information in a conservation management plan should help you to: design new work; plan conservation and restoration works; improve physical access; manage and maintain your site in the long term; develop new ways of involving people in the heritage; or plan activities to help people learn about heritage. Many people find that preparing a conservation management plan also helps them to work in partnership with other organisations to look after the heritage.

What does it cover?

At its most basic, a conservation management plan tells you about your heritage; why it matters; what is happening to it; and what you need to do to look after it A conservation management plan should be integrated that is, it should include information about your heritage, and also about how you will maintain and manage it. It should tell us about all of the different kinds of heritage on your site, and why they are important. We expect you to involve the community in preparing your plan. A conservation management plan includes the same information as a management and maintenance plan, with the addition of more information about the heritage, covering each different kind of heritage involved.

Why are plans integrated?

Most heritage places include more than one kind of heritage. You need to make sure you understand each of the different types of heritage that you are responsible for. Often a heritage site will have a different plan for conserving and managing each kind of heritage such as archaeology, biodiversity, collections or buildings. And each of these might be important in its own right for example a scheduled ancient monument, a site of special scientific interest, or a listed building. Having one single plan avoids the need for different plans for different kinds of heritage. A single integrated plan can also help to anticipate and hopefully avoid potential conflicts in managing different kinds of heritage by helping you understand what is important about each of them.

What should a management plan do?

The main purpose of managing heritage places on the National Heritage Lists is to identify, protect, conserve and present the heritage values of a place for the benefit of future generations. Under the new legislation, management plans for both lists must address certain criteria such as access and security issues, protocols to ensure Indigenous and other community members are consulted, and descriptions of a place's heritage values. A management plan should also allow for ongoing technical and community input to decisions and actions that may have a significant impact on a place's heritage values. National heritage place management should make continuing use of the best available knowledge, skills and standards for the place. The management of National heritage places should promote integrated , State, Territory and Local government responsibilities and provide for appropriate use and presentation of the place and its National heritage values.

Who does a management plan affect?

By its nature, a management plan affects the use of listed heritage places because it seeks to protect the heritage values of a place. Therefore, management plans can affect members of the community, managers of the place, Local, State, Territory and Federal governments and any other relevant stakeholders such as potential developers.

Need for Heritage Management Plan

Provides an understanding of the heritage property within its historical and contemporary context.

Identifies the key features, characteristics and elements of the heritage property defining the OUV and cultural significance.
Formulates the vision in the interest of the cultural value of the property.

Identifies the key issues and prescribes objectives for addressing those issues.
Enables a holistic view to be taken with regard to the challenges and opportunities for the management and enhancement of the property.

Establishes the principles and policies to enable the property to be managed and to safeguard.
Identifies the economics and the cultural benefits of the heritage property and work with partners in the local community to maximise these benefits,without damaging the cultural resource. Presents a programe of action to fulfill the objectives and ensure that the heritage property is managed according to its need, while following the outlined policies. Increases public awareness of and interest in the heritage property and promotes the educational and cultural aspects of the heritage property.

Principles of HMP
Defining and protecting the heritage propetys OUV and significance. Protecting, conserving, and enhancing the propertys significant features. Continuing the propertys distinctive cultural identity and promoting appropriate interpretation. Encouraging, wherever possible, the continued use of heritage property for its original purpose Where the original use is no longer viable, promoting adaptive reuse of heritage property while protecting its significant features. Ensuring access to all the property. Fostering national and local partnerships and facilitating social inclusion. Promoting knowledge of the property and its significance to a local and global audience.

Fundamental Concern
This should explain the structure, content, addressees and binding character of the management plan. The initial situation and conditions can also be discussed, as well as specific comprehensive goals that apply exclusively to the site in question, such as the responsibility summarized in the World Heritage Convention, to adopt a general policy which aims to give the cultural and natural heritage a function in the life of the community, and to integrate the protection of that heritage into comprehensive planning programmes.

Assessment
The assessment is done in terms of description and evaluation (values, aims, issues) thereby resulting in a statement of significance.The significance of a site and the statement of its outstanding universal value form the basis for its inscription and management as a World Heritage site. Thus the attributes that attest to its value should be described briefly and concisely and its outstanding universal value should be justified. The statement of significance and the definition of outstanding universal value should take the form of a preamble; neither should take up more than half a page. Detailed explanations required in the application for nomination may be omitted in the management plan.

The assessment of significance should take into account:

the assessment of the complex as a whole (within both a state and a regional context); the assessment of component parts or aspects, ie the sites; the identification of elements/aspects of particular significance; and the assessment of the authenticity (fabric), integrity (use) and condition of the place and the identification of elements of little significance or those that are considered to be intrusive.

Statement of significance
The aim of the statement of significance is to discuss and assess the known physical and documentary evidence of heritage in the project area, the larger surrounds and the region in order to provide a context for individual site assessments and recommendations for further heritage investigation. This section should be prepared by a qualified heritage practitioner or taken from a document written by a qualified heritage practitioner for the area in question (eg heritage survey reports) and commissioned by the proponent for the relevant project. The statement should identify the heritage values of the area, why the area is significant and how the significance can be preserved. It should include the following assessments: of the place as a whole; of the component sites and objects; and the interaction of the components.

Heritage can be valued for many different reasons. In order to look after that heritage, or to change it in any way, it is important first to understand those values. It is easy to damage those values by doing something inappropriate.
Understanding each of the different kinds of heritage on a site, and why they are important, can help you to manage it.

Policies
The assessment and vision further result in formulating heritage management plan. what existing policies you have for managing the heritage, access or other aspects of your site, and what they require you to do.

Conservation and management aims

Set out your broad aims and objectives for conserving and managing your site. These should go beyond your project to explain how you will look after the heritage in the long term.

Outline action plan and costs

Although it is at a very early stage, outline the kinds of things you will need to do to manage and maintain your heritage once your project is completed. If you can, think about who will do them and roughly how much it will cost. Your architect or professional advisor will be able to help you think about how you will maintain or manage any work that is part of your project, but you will also have to think about the heritage as a whole.

Using the information above, you should be able to summarise the things you need to do to look after your heritage in a simple list or table which sets out:
what needs to be maintained and managed; what work is involved; who will do it; when and how often they will do it; what resources are required; and how much it will cost. The action plan must include each of the kinds of heritage that you have, including buildings, landscapes, collections, wildlife, woodland, machinery, earthworks. It should also tell us how you will maintain or improve access arrangements.

Review
When an organisation formally adopted the plan, and who will be responsible for making sure it is used and how that will happen. There is no point in preparing a plan unless people use it. Who will monitor and review it. Who has copies of the plan, where it is published or made available and where archival copies will be kept. This will help future practicinors to understand why things were done in the past, which should help them make better informed decision for the future. Funds monitoring of undertaken work must be incorporated at the time of budget approval. Change in significance is to be check.

Management
How will you manage visitors in a way that does not damage heritage? What impact will visitor services have on heritage and how will you minimise that? How will you ensure that staff, volunteers and contractors have heritage skills? How will you deal with any potential heritage conflicts (for example managing a collection in a historic building or biodiversity in a designed landscape)?

What management standards do you need to comply with and how will you do that?

However good the plan is, you will often need to carry out more detailed research or investigation, especially if you are designing new capital works. That information might include the following research, surveys or investigations: a detailed condition survey of a building, landscape or collection; historical research; measured drawings of a landscape or building; archaeological analysis of a building or landscape; space survey for collections; habitat or species survey; archaeological assessment; architectural paint research or tree-ring dating; geophysical investigation; site, building or species monitoring; scientific investigation; research or consultation with communities; collecting peoples memories of the heritage as oral history or as a community archive.

TAJ MAHAL AGRA

The Taj Mahal is undoubtedly amongst the most important monumental sites in the world. This, along with many others, constitutes a common world heritage, to be treasured as unique testimonies to an enduring past. Their disappearance would be an irreparable loss for humanity - the preservation of this common heritage concerns us all.
The recognition of the Taj Mahal as a World Heritage Site in 1982 has resulted in increased national and international awareness and concern about the monument and its environment. The Taj Mahal particularly has been the focus of world attention because pollution was seen to be damaging the marble faade and while measures instituted for the amelioration of this condition have already commenced, it is clear that a holistic approach for the restoration of the entire complex is required to preserve the monument.

It is clear that a comprehensive understanding of the regional issues are necessary if a long term strategy for the preservation of the Taj Mahal and its environs is to be sustained.

Site description
The Taj Mahal is part of an enormous complex covering 16 hectares within its walls and twenty-two hectares, inclusive of Taj Ganj and Khan e Alam. In effect, one third of the complex was planned for visitors to the Taj Mahal. Although the gardens have changed substantively over the years, the original layout remains undisturbed. The fountains, reflecting pools trees and flower gardens together symbolized the concept of paradise on earth.

The Site Management Plan will be continuously updated and its success will be measured by its capacity to keep abreast of emerging challenges without ever compromising on the fundamental principles of the authenticity and integrity of the site. Taj Mahal, the pinnacle of Mughal architectural glory remains unsurpassed as a jewel in the World's Heritage. Today however it is a victim of its celebration; overburdened with the influx of tourists and vulnerable in its environment, presenting challenges and opportunities for its conservation, preservation and its presentation.

The Archaeological Survey of lndia has maintained the Taj Mahal as envisaged by Lord Curzon. It has stabilized the structures, replaced lost inlay and repaired damaged stone.. an ongoing process of conservation, preservation and restoration. The garden however is not reflective of its original concept and design. The Taj marks the culmination of Mughal architecture and expresses a synthesis of various structural traditions. Elements like the charbagh,the irregular octagonal plan( musamman-i- Baghdadi),half domes (nim gumbad),double domes, grand apses, and alcoves predominate in its scheme, but the general structura1 idiom is essentially Indian, that is to say Mughal, for it is a logical development of the Akbari style.

The Management Guidelines for World Heritage Sites by Sir Bernard Feilden and Jukka Joltilehto has 4 distinct stages: Survey: methodical inspection, survey and documentation of the resource, its historical setting and its physical environment; Definition: critical-historical definition and assessment of the object and its setting, so giving it its significance; Analysis: scientific analysis and diagnosis of tlie material substance and associated structural system with a view towards its conservation; and Strategy: long-term and short-term programmes for conservation and management of change, including regular inspections, cyclic maintenance and environmental control.

Research and Surveys

Clear and accurate documentation is an essential means of understanding, defning and recognizing the 'values' of a cultural resource; consequently exploring and expressing the nature of the historic monument in its own cultural context. The artistic, aesthetic, architectural and historical diversity of the Taj Mahal complex exists in unique harmony and unity of Mughal expression. It is crucial and indispensable to record and document ,this unity of form and content, in order to evolve an informed and holistic conservation process. This intensive documentation would provide an exhaustive resource archive for research scholars and concerned people; consequently promoting their interest and involvement in the preservation of the cultural heritage. Documentation is an intrinsic and indispensable ongoing activity through out a conservation process.

Assessment of significance
Today, the Taj Mahal is the symbol or the cultural icon of India. It transcends all barriers, cuts across communities and singular visions, to represent to the rich cultural diversity and the highly sophisticated heritage of which India is so proud. Its significance is undisputed as it is the most important image of India. It is certainly the most familiar building in the world perhaps also utilization of building because of its pervasive exploitation for commercial purposes.

The Taj Mahal stands apart; it belongs to the nation as a whole and to each Indian individually and is celebrated as the heritage of the world. It is interesting to see that the largest numbers of visitors to the Taj Mahal are pilgrims of many faiths on their way to or from Mathura and the respect they offer at the grave of Shah Tahan or Mumtaz Mahal is akin to that to a saint or seer.

Vision, Objectives and Policies

The understanding and documentation of traditional craftsmanship, skills and practices would help maintain the continuity of indigenous building practices through their engagement in indigenous conservation practices and regular maintenance of historic monuments. No vision for the future would be meaningful unless the people of Agra are actively involved at all stages. While the Taj Mahal as a monument, is of global significance, it's future will only be secure within a civic order which provides first for the well being of the people of Agra and imbues them with an appropriate sense of pride in the Heritage of the City. A balanced approach based on evaluation and prioritisation of resource specific concerns is essential for defining an appropriate conservation methodology.

Management Plan
The Conservation Plan, besides defining and stating the philosophical approach and ethics of conservation, would programme all conservation projects to be taken up. The historic building fabric survey would inform these conservation projects, by guiding the degree and nature of intervention, repair and preservation. Maintenance activities associated with other monument related works would be co-ordinated to reduce wear and tear of the historic fabric. Visitor Management and Facilitation, within a framework of internationally recognised and appropriately applied standards, will help restore the sanctity and serenity of the site, thereby enhancing visitor experience. The Taj Mahal complex made physically, intellectually and emotively accessible to visitors should facilitate an understanding and appreciation of ,the heritage significance of the Taj Mahal and it's setting.

Monitoring and Review strategies

The implementation of a Conservation Plan is effective and efficient only if there is a system of consistent monitoring and periodic reviews of the work. The key to the success of the whole operation is inspection by a competent person. Proper equipment is also needed to carry out monitoring and periodic reviews of the work. In addition to updating the existing data, this information collected through the process of review and monitoring, would also facilitate future planning, programming and management of conservation projects. Reviews at regular intervals can direct conservation projects by correcting mistakes and refining approaches. Long term monitoring will include reporting and review of the overall project in its entirety every five years.