ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we analyze religious items of cultural heritage that are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and consider problems of their representation and management systems in India, China, and Russia. Today, sacred sites are discussed with a focus on their complex nature. The dichotomy of the sacred and the profane is not always available. Eliade’s hierophanies, for example, are not enough to understand contemporary phenomena in sacred sites where ‘the sacred does not manifest itself’ (Eliade, 1987, p. 11). Sacredness and tradition woven into a place are normalized and materialized, and then consumed. Under these circumstances, the boundary between religion and culture, between pilgrimage and tourism, becomes more and more blurred. A striking example of this fusion is demonstrated in the religious properties registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
