Bhutan has been nominated to be listed on the World Heritage List since March 2012. To be on the list, Bhutan has to submit ‘inventory’, or a list that provides a forecast of the most important cultural and natural heritage of the country within next five to 10 years.
In a build-up to the inventory, the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs has identified the Bhutanese heritage building as one of the lists. In this line, a high level meeting on Authenticity of Bhutanese Heritage Buildings was held in Thimphu today.
The home minister, Minjur Dorji, said a committee has been formed especially to make sure that those constructing houses follow Bhutan’s old architecture.
Bhutan has invited four international experts to talk on the conservation of the Bhutanese heritage building. One of the experts, Professor Gustavo Araoz, the president of ICOMOS in France, said many countries awake to the conservation of heritage very late, when their heritage is largely lost. “But in Bhutan you have lost very little and you also have culture and tradition intangible which have meaning to this heritage,” he said.
The meeting also highlighted that the conservation methods should not freeze the lifestyle of the people. Thus, the home ministry has a set plan to upgrade the authentic heritage building without diluting heritage values.
The participants are also looking at upgrading the authentic Bhutanese heritage building without degrading the spiritual and culture aspect of Bhutanese.
