‘Five feet from heaven’: The World Heritage convention, ‘mountains of meaning’ and inspirational landscapes. Identifying and protecting mountains’ intangible heritage values

For many centuries, mountains all over the world have been the focus of religious veneration and artistic production. They are what could be called ‘mountains of meaning’, mountains that have special meanings or spiritual values attributed to them, or mountains that inspire creative works or thoughts. The purpose of the 2002 ‘Celebrating Mountains’ conference was to rejoice at the diversity of mountains, and their meanings to our society. There can, perhaps, be no greater accolade than for a mountain to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List: ‘sacred mountains are the World Heritage sites that enshrine the highest physical and spiritual values’ (Sernbaum 1997: 34). ‘Associative’ cultural landscapes are another type of property that the World Heritage Committee recognises. These too can have special meanings or spiritual values attributed to them, or are places that inspire creative works or thoughts. This category can also include mountains landscapes.