Una (im)possibile universalità del patrimonio? Il ruolo di UNESCO nei processi di conservazione e ricostruzione nei Balcani

The preservation and protection of cultural property endangered by war conflicts has been, since UNESCO's founding, one of the agency's main purposes, seeking a way to safeguard this fragile heritage. The essay aims to investigate UNESCO's role in the process of reconstruction and protection of the heritage of the countries of former Yugoslavia, particularly the actions taken in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These now-historicized interventions, in addition to entailing the opening of a profound new thinking towards the issue of heritage authenticity, will be analyzed as a premise for the current challenges UNESCO is called upon to respond to in order to foster the still ongoing peace process.