Last but not List

摘要

When certain sites are mentioned, some experts frown; in their eyes, these places do not merit the World Heritage label. True, the List has become inflated over the past 30 years, a victim of its own success. Is it good or bad for the concept of world heritage to expand as nominations multiply? "What we are definitely seeing is a shift away from the original, exemplary list of symbolic sites," says anthropologist Raphael Souchier. Key to the debate is the notion of "exceptional universal value", one of the criteria applied to the candidate sites. In the early days, many of the sites were synonymous with "wonders of the world", and were not subject to controversy. No one would consider questioning the universal appeal of the Pyramids at Giza (Egypt) or of the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), but more recent additions have raised eyebrows.