What is cultural heritage? What were the stages of evolution of this concept and how was it configured, over time, by the main legislations and institutions? What are its uses, potentialities, and political and economic paradoxes? Did you know that most of the tangible heritage on UNESCO’s World Heritage List is located in the Northern hemisphere?

In her essay ‘Património à Solta’ (​‘Heritage on the Loose’, loosely translated), published by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, under the Ensaios da Fundação label, CRIA/ IN2PAST researcher Maria Cardeira da Silva proposes a journey behind the scenes and stages of cultural heritage, through different places in the world, in the past and in the present. ‘A grand tour that aims to help us find our role and be more conscious agents in the large and small contemporary heritage stagings’, writes the publisher.