ABSTRACT
The concept of ‘sustainability’ adds a new important meaning to our understanding of the future in terms of limited resources and a new understanding of human stewardship concerning our blue planet. Other meanings of ‘future’, however, continue to be applied in political and economic contexts. The first part of this contribution draws attention to the pluralisation of our time regimes and links the term ‘cultural sustainability’ to the theory of ‘cultural memory’. The second part focuses on the history and recent challenges of the concept of ‘cultural heritage’ by looking at the history of Palmyra from the eighteenth century to the present day.
