About

The national heritage of Mauritius used to be managed, in part, by the Ancient Monuments Act of 1944, which was updated in 1985 by the nearly-identical National Monuments Act. This act was meant to protect structures of historical, architectural, scientific, artistic or aesthetic interest.

However, in an attempt to develop the concept of management of national heritage, the National Heritage  Fund Act No 27 of 1997 was passed in December 1997. It was subsequently replaced by the National Heritage Fund Act N. 40 of 2003 passed in November 2003. The major thrust of the new Act is

• to broaden the concept of heritage to encompass natural and cultural aspects of heritage
• to be proactive in identifying, protecting and securing items of national heritage
• to raise funds to acquire and manage heritage
• to sensitise and educate the public in all aspects of Mauritian Heritage (history, natural history, geography, architecture etc.)
• to facilitate public access and enjoyment of our national heritage.

Thus, the Act makes provision for acquiring, protecting and restoring national heritage sites or structures in order to make them available for public appreciation.

The Act also places great emphasis on

• the collection of the necessary information to identify, protect and valorise our heritage, and
• public relations and communication between those with specialist knowledge and the public at large, through talks, publications and exhibitions.

It is clear therefore that the Act is concerned with

• Identify and studying heritage
• Protecting, monitoring and restoring heritage
• Developing and making heritage accessible to the public.

Three key words are:

• discover
• defend
• develop, our natural heritage for the public benefit.

Managing the National Heritage of Mauritius - The National Heritage Fund Board

The National Heritage  Fund Act makes provision for a Board to direct the application of its provisions, under the aegis of the Ministry of Arts and Culture.

Vision for Mauritian heritage

The  Board has worked on and developed along-term Vision :

"Our vision for Heritage in Mauritius is to develop a sense of belonging by caring for the past and bequeathing it to the future."

The central concepts here are

Þ A sense of belonging = what it means to be Mauritian

Þ Caring for the past = which means knowing and understanding the past

Þ Bequeathing = passing on something precious to our successors.

A debate in a multi-cultural society such as Mauritius, is the part that ancestral heritage plays in the Mauritian identity. We have a clear ideal here - to discover the heritage which joins and not that which divides. There are often positive aspects to seemingly politically-charged heritage. For example, there are  many 18^th century cut stone buildings in Mauritius, many of which clearly merit heritage status. They might be considered only as edifices of French colonial administration. In reality, they are also monuments to the skill and hard-work of slaves and artisans whose descendants live today.

A keyword here is accessibility. The public must have access to heritage. It must be made available to the public. The Board has adopted this as a management principle. One that may create a certain amount of conflict, but which will have to be dealt with and resolved on a case by case basis.

Another keyword is management. The pitiful state of abandon of many structures which may have great heritage value suggests that their present management is inadequate. The Government of course has a major direct role in protecting such heritage. The world over, private organisations are given the role of managing certain heritage structures, frequently very successfully. This model certainly has application for Mauritius.

Mission of the Board

The National Heritage Fund Board has also identified a short-term Mission:

"Our Mission is to identify, valorise and promote our National Heritage"

This concise statement gives a clear direction for the immediate tasks ahead. we hope to build up the database of sites and structures for inclusion under "heritage". A set of criteria has been established for what can be considered "National Heritage".

These are some of the International Organisations with common interest to the NHF of Mauritius.
ICOM (International Council of Museums)

ICOMOS (International Centre on Monuments and Sites)

UNESCO (World Heritage Centre)

UNESCO (Directorate of Cultural Heritage)

Parks Canada

English Heritage

Singapore Heritage

South African Heritage

Australian Heritage ;

Identification of National Heritage

There exists a list of Sites and Monuments which are declared National Monuments and which are protected under the National Monuments Act.

In early 1999, the NHTF Board launched a public appeal in the local press calling for propositions for sites or buildings believed to constitute heritage. From this appeal, a large number of buildings have been inventoried.