A Critical Assessment of the Current State and Management of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site in Cartagena De Indias, Colombia
Authors: Saba Manuel , Chanchí Golondrino Gabriel Elías , Torres-Gil Leydy Karina 
Published: May 2023

(1) Background: The significance of cultural heritage lies in its value as a historical, architectural, cultural, and economic asset for nations. In the case of Cartagena de Indias, a city located in northern Colombia, its cultural heritage has spanned over five centuries and has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. Unfortunately, Cartagena’s heritage has an ongoing threat by UNESCO, since 2017, to be categorized as in Danger, generating a significant loss of tourist, economic attractiveness, and reputation. (2) Methods: The purpose of this study is to analyze the existing cultural heritage management practices in the city, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and assess the opportunities and challenges for improvement. This study employed a mixed-methods research design to examine the organizational structure of heritage management in Cartagena. The investigation encompassed the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data obtained from official sources on the webpages of relevant institutions. Additionally, the heritage management systems in exemplary countries like Italy and Spain were studied, and a comparable management approach was proposed for Cartagena. A photographic report was created, highlighting the major issues arising from inadequate heritage management. Furthermore, hyperspectral images obtained from a previous study utilizing a Mjolnir VS-620 sensor, which captured data across a range of wavelengths from 400nm to 2500nm in 480 spectral bands, were used to identify vegetation and asbestos-cement roofs within the cultural heritage site. Additionally, this research aims to provide recommendations for future action to enhance cultural heritage management in Cartagena de Indias. (3) Results: The results of this investigation reveal that there are significant criticalities and inadequacies that demand the strongest attention. One of the primary challenges identified pertains to the ambiguity surrounding decision-making authority for heritage management, which has been distributed between the Mayor&#039;s Office and the Ministry of Culture. This fragmentation has led to duplicated efforts and a lack of coordinated action, resulting in suboptimal conservation and protection of the cultural heritage site. Furthermore, twelve current shortcomings of cultural heritage in Cartagena are presented and discussed in detail. They are the result of five years of observations and permanence in the city of Cartagena, which has allowed the authors to examine the problems in all their complexity, as heritage experts and citizens. (4) Conclusions: This study aims to address a prevailing concern regarding multiple problems within the cultural heritage area of Cartagena. Problems are identified and classified from a scientific point of view, starting with the experience of studying heritage and living in the city for many years, free of political influences or conflict of interests. A new line of command for cultural heritage management is proposed to be the most effective means of addressing these challenges. Finally, general recommendations to mitigate existing problems are presented to prevent Cartagena&#039;s heritage from being categorized as at risk by UNESCO in the near future.