ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the national scale as a frame of reference to the concept of heritage at the supranational continental and global scales. It focuses on the ownership of heritage and the heritage dissonances which exist between nations as well as those arising from the idea that heritage can be the common property of communities of nations. The national scale of heritage identity remains enshrined in national museums, collections, histories, conservational legislative frameworks and practices. Conversely, international heritage organizations were generally created later, usually modelled on national institutions, financed by them and even subject to their veto. Such organizations tend, therefore, to balance national interests rather than override them in the pursuit of international concepts of heritage identity and meaning. The chapter considers the implications of these points for a supranational heritage at the continental scale. In most countries, for example, the ownership of historic buildings designated as monuments remains with the original individual or organizational owner.
