Possibilities of Legal Regulation of the Conservation of Sacred Places within the Cultural Landscape: The Case of the Republic of Kazakhstan

1. Introduction

The term 'landscape' usually refers to a natural landscape, a geographical location characterized by a typical visual image, a certain combination of relief, climate, and soil, which is valued for its scenic beauty and other aesthetic qualities. However, in modern landscape ecology, this term is more often used to refer to a large mosaic area that has been modified by people. Thus, landscapes represent a space of interaction between people and nature, whose ethics may differ depending on time, space, and norms. Within the broader concept of 'landscape', it is necessary to emphasize the concept of cultural landscape as a natural landscape modified by people in accordance with their needs.

The cultural landscape is a product of the interaction between people and nature, reflecting the centuries-old experience of its inhabitants in adapting and shaping the natural environment. Within the framework of these relationships, sacred places act as especially significant spots that convey deep religious, artistic, or cultural associations. Such places play a key role in shaping the historical memory and collective identity of the nation, contributing to the unity of its people and the national security of the state.

The Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972) (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) is the first international legal document that highlights the importance of protecting cultural landscapes as a separate category included in the World Heritage List. The Convention distinguishes three main categories of cultural landscapes:¹

-Man-made landscapes: These include gardens and parks, created for aesthetic reasons, often (but not always) associated with religious or other monumental buildings and ensembles.

-Organically developed landscapes: These landscapes have evolved over time through connection with and response to the natural environment, considering social, economic, administrative, and/or religious imperatives; –Associative cultural landscapes: These landscapes are imbued with religious, artistic, or cultural associations, while the value of its material component may be insignificant or even absent. Sacred places also belong to this group of cultural landscapes.

Mahohoma and Gundani point out that initially the meaning of sacred was interpreted as everything that does not fit into the ordinary course of things and can have both positive and negative connotations for a person.² Scholars define the sacred as a worldview category, a property, that bestows an object with exceptional significance and eternal value and, on this basis, requires a reverent attitude towards it.³ An analysis of scientific sources shows that the sacred is mostly embodied in religion.⁴ The religious concept is based on a comparison of opposites, on the one hand, the sacred expressing absolute value, holiness, and structuredness; on the other hand, the profane, i.e. the mundane, ordinary, non-systemic.⁵

Some scholars distinguish between the sacred and the religious context. According to S Fleischacker, social phenomena are deemed sacred if they are recognized as inviolable by the collective consciousness due to their importance.⁶ Thus, the concept of sacred falls within a worldview category that gives people, actions, territories, and other objects such as property that separate them from the mundane and put them in a position of exceptional value, and significance and, on this basis, requires an exceptional attitude and protection.⁷

Various spheres of public life, including social, political and spiritual, can be subjected to sacralization. In recent decades, the relevant literature has considered the sacred landscape as a result of the sacralization of space.⁸ When determining the content of this concept, it is important to understand the nature of the sacred, i.e., what is consecrated by a person or a group of people and forms the core of the sacred landscape (a sacred place). Accordingly, numerous interpretations of a sacred place can be divided into the following approaches: religious, event-based, and socio-cultural.

The religious approach was used in the work of Mazumdar, where a sacred place is interpreted as an image of a sacred space, the meaning of which is perceived and inherited by certain groups of people as manifestations of supreme forces.⁹ Halafoff and Clarke give the following definition of a sacred place: natural or natural-anthropogenic geosystems that perform a spiritual function associated with the religious needs of humankind, which are objects of pilgrimage, i.e., they indulge a certain category of the population to communicate with them.¹⁰ A significant addition is made by Kiran: an important feature of sacred places is the preservation of the spiritual function of the territory for a significant period, even with a change in religious and ethnic affiliation.¹¹

Indeed, many sacred places have religious significance. However, any place, at a certain stage can become sacred due to some event. Under the event-based approach, the term 'sacred place' is considered in Eade's work, where it is indicated that a sacred place is associated with significant events or has unique geographical characteristics.¹²

Globally, the safeguarding of sacred sites is governed by several significant conventions, including the 1972 World Cultural and Natural Heritage Convention, the 2000 European Landscape Convention, the 2000 Riga Charter, which focuses on Authenticity and Historical Reconstruction in Cultural Heritage, the 2003 UNESCO Convention for Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.¹³

For each country, sacred places are repositories of historical, spiritual, and cultural heritage. However, despite the fact that there are international documents to regulate their conservation, the legal regulation of these places can differ significantly due to the influence of cultural characteristics, political systems, and social norms.

The study focuses on the challengesand opportunities of legal regulation of the sacred places within the cultural landscape of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Firstly, Kazakhstan has a rich and diverse cultural landscape that has been shaped throughout its history under the influence of various cultures, traditions, beliefs, and architectural styles. The coexistence of different ethnic groups, languages, and religious traditions provides an exceptional opportunity to understand how sacred sites represent these cultural dynamics. Secondly, the geopolitical position of the country has played a key role in shaping its cultural landscape and historical heritage.

As for the legal regulation of the protection of sacred places in Kazakhstan, it is pertinent to mention Article 37 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan.¹⁴ Under this document, citizens of Kazakhstan are obliged to preserve historical and cultural heritage, and protect historical and cultural monuments. The Land Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan plays a significant role in the legal protection of sacred places, with article 127 specifically regulating the legal regime of historical and cultural lands.

Furthermore, according to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan 'On the protection and use of historical and cultural heritage objects' (hereinafter referred to as the Law), sacred places are historical and memorable places associated with significant historical events and personalities, as well as the spiritual values of the people.¹⁵ These sacred places are considered historical and cultural monuments subject to protection, with the law outlining their main principles and features.

Despite Kazakhstan's participation in international initiatives and efforts to develop its own initiatives, there is still a need to improve the legal and regulatory framework for the preservation of sacred sites within the cultural landscape. This is essential to effectively address the dynamic challenges faced by sacred sites.

Thus, this article aims to propose measures and recommendations to improve legal regulation and preservation of the sacred places within the cultural landscape across Kazakhstan.

2. Methods

To explore the unique and exploratory nature of the subject matter, a qualitative methodology was chosen for this research. The study was conducted at the turn of 2022 and 2023 in Kazakh universities.

To achieve the objective set, various theoretical methods were employed: theoretical generalization to determine the theoretical foundations of the sacralization of the cultural landscape, and structural and logical analysis, and synthesis to establish the current state of legal regulations of the conservation of sacred places within the cultural landscape of Kazakhstan.

In conformity with the objective, the study was initiated by selecting legal acts. The sources comprise the Information and Legal System of Regulatory Legal Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan IPS 'Adilet,' as well as scientific works extracted from the international databases Web of Science and Scopus using such keywords as 'cultural landscape,' 'sacred place,' 'historical memory,' 'world heritage,' UNESCO, and 'sacralization of space,' ensuring that publications were no older than 10 years.

In the second phase of the study, an expert survey was carried out. Invitations to participate were emailed to 44 specialists in Kazakhstan. The selection criteria for these experts required having authored at least three articles on the subject in peer-reviewed journals. Among those contacted, forty experts consented to participate in the survey, and they were subsequently emailed the following questions:

• What are the main problems in the implementation of legal norms for the conservation of cultural landscapes in Kazakhstan?
• What are possible solutions to these problems?
• How to increase social participation in the preservation of the cultural landscape?

The experts were requested to provide detailed explanations for their responses in an unstructured format. All participants were briefed on the objective of the survey and notified that the findings would be published in a summarized way.

After receiving the expert responses,  a second email was sent, in which a method was proposed for prioritizing the significance of certain problems in the implementation of legal norms for the conservation of cultural landscapes, and potential solutions developed during the study. It was suggested to assign points to each problem and arrange them on a scale of order. After that, the answers were ranked according to the points given by the experts.

To ensure a more objective evaluation of the data collected from the expert survey, the consistency among the experts' opinions was quantified through mathematical analysis using the Kendall coefficient of concordance (W). Subsequently, this data was further analyzed to assess impacts. These impacts reveal the importance of various parameters according to the collective perspective of the experts, providing valuable insights into the issues surrounding the implementation of legal norms for the conservation of cultural landscapes in Kazakhstan.

3. Results

3.1. Analysis of the Current Situation in Kazakhstan

Currently, the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) monitors and coordinates the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. At the 33^rd General Conference of UNESCO in October 2005, Kazakhstan was included in the World Heritage Committee as a partner, which required the Commission and the Kazakh society to work more effectively to protect the historical and cultural heritage of Kazakhstan.¹⁶

Historical and cultural heritage /sites perform the most important functions of integrating the country into the global space of cultural communications, ensuring cultural and humanitarian security amidst fierce competition for cultural and historical narratives. Moreover, these sites possess significant economic potential as tourist attractions, contributing to Kazakhstan's recognition and fostering plans for increased tourism. In the matters of improving the interaction between state and civil institutions, a major role is played by the scientific research, study, revival, and reconstruction of historical and cultural heritage objects. Ensuring their safety is crucial for identifying the present and the past.¹⁷

Since 2017, the 'Sacred Geography of Kazakhstan' program has been implemented as part of the 'Rukhanizhangyru' project. This program is aimed at disseminating the spiritual and cultural values of the Kazakh people; preserving, restoring, and popularizing the historical and cultural objects of Kazakhstan; providing an opportunity to comprehensively study the history of the country and developing such important scientific areas as local history and Kazakh studies. Within the framework of the program, a research center was created, which currently employs 40 specialists (local historians, honored scientists, and public figures).¹⁸

In total, there are 185 sacred places of national significance in Kazakhstan and more than 500 objects of regional significance divided into several categories. These include revered monuments of natural heritage, archaeological sites and medieval town centers, religious places and places of worship, and sacred places associated with historical figures and political events. There are many monuments known in Kazakhstan and abroad: the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, the Korkyt Ata memorial complex, the ancient cities of Sozak and Saraishyk, the Turkic sanctuaries Merke and Zhaisan.¹⁹ Currently, the Kazakh people have a single sacred space, personifying the inseparable connection of each generation and each period in the history of nation.

In 2020, the new edition of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan 'On the protection and use of historical and cultural heritage objects' came into effect. In pursuance of which several regulations were adopted aimed at enhancing the protection and use of objects of historical and cultural heritage.

The Concept of the Cultural Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023-2029 dwells on several problems: the insufficient restoration and archaeological work with historical and cultural monuments and the underdeveloped infrastructure of museum reserves, including the limited exploitation of existing visitor centers.²⁰ Another issue is the insufficient funding of objects and elements included and planned to be included in the UNESCO lists. Notably, there is a looming threat to the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

3.2. Survey Results

The results of the expert survey helped reveal the main problems in the implementation of legal norms for the conservation of cultural landscapes (Table 1).

Table 1. Main Problems in the Implementation of Legal Norms for the Conservation of Cultural Landscapes

Note: This ranking was compiled based on the expert survey, with the concordance coefficient W = 0.74 (p < 0.01), which indicates strong coherence of expert opinions.

As a result of the expert survey, potential solutions were identified to overcome the existing problems of preserving cultural landscapes (Table 2).

Table 2. Potential Solutions to Overcome the Existing Conservation Challenges for Cultural Landscapes

Note: The ranking is compiled based on the expert survey, with the concordance coefficient W = 0.71 (p < 0.01), which indicates strong coherence of expert opinions.

4. Discussion

The results of the expert survey demonstrated that the biggest problem is the financing of preservation activities. The lack of state funding programs causes the decline and loss of cultural landscapes. The experts referred to low-quality control over the implementation of existing laws and legal acts by security agencies as one more important problem. As Medeuova and Sandybaeva point out, violations of legislation on the protection of cultural landscapes have become systemic, and violators do not bear due responsibility.²¹

According to the experts, a serious problem is the lack of consistency and coordination in the activities of state authorities to preserve cultural landscapes, which correlates with the conclusions.²² The scattered nature of management functions between various ministries and departments makes it impossible to control the protection, use and restoration of cultural landscapes. The experts emphasized the need to create an independent executive body for these issues.

The experts also mentioned the lack of a favorable climate for attracting private funds for the restoration of cultural landscapes, tax incentives for sponsors and philanthropists, and support from local authorities for private initiatives in the field of preserving and developing cultural heritage. The experts stressed the need for regular consultations between public authorities and residents regarding problems, needs, and requests in the field of cultural landscape conservation, as well as the development of a program that would connect the ways of preserving and enhancing cultural landscapes with elements of social planning proposed in.²³

When looking for potential solutions to implement legal norms for the conservation of cultural landscapes, the experts referred to the role of public organizations in the conservation of cultural landscapes. At the initiative of citizens’ associations, cultural heritage protection agencies, other executive authorities and local self-government bodies, and independent groups of specialists can perform public expertise on the protection of cultural landscapes at their own expense or voluntarily. Its results can be considered by executive authorities and local self-government bodies when making appropriate decisions.

In addition, the experts emphasized the need to create a non-profit national trust organization in Kazakhstan. Its regulations should legislate the following activities:

• The creation of an incentive system for patrons who donate funds for the conservation of cultural landscapes.
• The prohibition of sharing the profit received by the trust from the use of cultural landscapes among its founders and members.
• The observance of the principle of non-alienation, i.e., the guarantee that the cultural landscape is transferred for perpetual use in the interests of all citizens.
• The exemption of the trust from property taxes since the cultural landscape is in the trust and is used in the interests of society, with public access guaranteed.

The experts believed that there was an urgent need to rethink approaches to understanding and analyzing the interaction between authorities, the public, and the private sector in the field of the conservation and protection of cultural landscapes. Therefore, as shown by Medeuova Sandybaeva, the role of joint institutions of cooperation (public, advisory, expert, and methodological councils) should be strengthened.²⁴ Their main functions should include the comprehensive participation of the general public in the formation and implementation of state policy in the protection of cultural landscapes through the following activities:

• Active participation in the development of legislative and other regulatory acts for the protection of cultural landscapes in the regions and proper control over their implementation.
• Promotion of the values of cultural landscapes at the local and regional levels.
• Inspections of the protection of cultural landscapes.

According to the experts, a promising activity for the protection of cultural landscapes is the development of state targeted programs at the regional level. Such programs should preserve the cultural landscapes of a given region or territory, and promote the introduction of those activities that have shown their effectiveness at the level of UNESCO. Such programs aim at developing and implementing a set of research, restoration, environmental, information, financial, and economic activities to ensure the conservation, use, and promotion of cultural landscapes, the creation of new tourist routes, and modern tourist infrastructure in the regions of Kazakhstan.

An indicative list of tasks for such programs might be as follows:

• To improve regional legislative support for the protection and preservation of the cultural landscape.
• To ensure the conclusion of security agreements between the relevant body for the protection of the cultural landscape and the owners (their authorized bodies) and users of cultural landscape objects.
• To assist in attracting investments for the conservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and use of cultural landscape objects.
• To build a developed infrastructure of research, design, repair, and restoration organizations to preserve the cultural landscape in the territory of the region.
• To determine the boundaries of the cultural landscape, the thickness of the cultural layer, and to study its objects (survey, determination of the subject of protection, photo fixation, compilation of an accounting card, a brief historical reference, a report on condition).
• To make an inventory of faulted objects of the cultural landscape.
• To control and supervise the technical, artistic, and aesthetic condition of cultural landscape objects.
• To create an electronic database of cultural landscape objects of the region, including cartographic, geodetic, bibliographic, archival materials, photographs (photo albums), and themed catalogs.
• To popularize the cultural landscape through the publication of catalogs, reference books, and other printed materials, as well as photo exhibitions.
• To produce and install protective boards on cultural landscape objects.
• To add the cultural landscape to national and world tourist routes.

Another promising activity in the cultural and security sphere is personnel training. In this regard, the state should contribute to the training of specialists and advanced training of personnel in the field of preserving cultural heritage objects through the introduction of relevant professional disciplines in specialized higher educational institutions.

5. Conclusion

Activities aimed at the conservation of sacred places within cultural landscapes should be based on high-quality communication among different specialists. In the field of preserving cultural heritage, qualitative changes can only occur through collaborative efforts across various sectors. Therefore, the cooperation of specialists from various industries and local authorities should be supported by the community, public organizations, and activists. The successful, planned, and harmonious revival of cultural heritage is possible if there is coherence between entrepreneurial activity and the prevailing position of the local community. It is recommended to integrate citizens into the processes of preserving sacred places. For example, it is necessary to empower citizens to make joint decisions in the public interest of developing territorial heritage and public space.

The process of forming the attitude of the local community toward preserving sacred places should include tasks such as, disseminating knowledge about the characteristics of sacred places, developing preservation programs of the cultural landscape, and advising residents on methods and ways of preserving sacred places. Cultural policy should be influenced by scholars and public organizations, and their opinions should play not just an advisory but a decisive role on the issue of preserving sacred places.

Furthermore, the development and testing of a regional program for the conservation of cultural landscapes in a particular region may become a prospect for further research