| What is heritage? | <h2 class="sectHeading">Cultural and natural heritage</h2><p>The Cape Town Metro extends from Mamre in the north and Gordon’s Bay in the east to Cape Point in the south. The unique cultural and natural heritage of Cape Town forms part of our sense of identity and of place.</p><p>The City of Cape Town is tasked to identify, protect, conserve and manage the rich cultural heritage of the people of the Cape for future generations.</p><h2 class="sectHeading">What is a heritage resource? </h2><p>A heritage resource is any place or object that is of cultural or natural significance. It could include cultural sites, landscapes of historical significance, areas of scenic beauty, places of spiritual importance, oral traditions, and indigenous knowledge systems. </p><h2 class="sectHeading">What is cultural heritage?</h2><p>Cultural heritage can refer to places or objects – those things which are the result of human action and activities. Some objects or places, such as archaeological sites and artefacts, can be the result of human activities which took place thousands of years ago. Cultural heritage also includes towns, buildings, landscapes and traditions.</p><h2 class="sectHeading">What is natural heritage?</h2><p>Our natural heritage is unique. It includes geological formations like<a href="https://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/" target="_blank"> Table Mountain<i class="icon link-external"></i></a>, rare and endangered biomes like our
<a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/Local%20and%20communities/Nature-and-the-community/Our-natural-city/Our-floral-kingdom">Cape Floristic Kingdom</a> and fossil sites such as Wolwegat, Swartklip and Duinefontein. </p>
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<i class="info fastfact"></i></div><div class="desc"><h4>Fast fact</h4><p>
<b></b>South Africa has
<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/za" target="_blank">eight World Heritage Sites<i class="icon link-external"></i></a>. Cape Town is home to two of these: Robben Island and Table Mountain, including Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Kirstenbosch is the first botanical garden in the world to be included as a natural World Heritage Site.</p></div></div></span>
<h2 class="sectHeading">Explore our cultural and natural heritage</h2><p>Explore our <a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/Local%20and%20communities/Heritage-and-the-community/Heritage-sites-and-buildings/Museums-landmarks-and-heritage-sites">museums, landmarks and heritage sites</a> or find out about our
<a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/Local%20and%20communities/Heritage-and-the-community/Heritage-sites-and-buildings/Walking-heritage-tours-of-the-city">walking tours across the city</a>. View more
<a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/Local%20and%20communities/Heritage-and-the-community/Heritage-resources/Heritage-information-and-resources">Heritage Information resources, maps and displays</a>. If you are interested in how our heritage sites are protected by law, you can read about how we
<a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/Local%20and%20communities/Heritage-and-the-community/Our-history-and-heritage/Protecting-our-heritage">protect our heritage</a>.</p><span><div class="notification with-heading dark-copy pink bg-light-grey"><div class="graphic with-border">
<i class="info toptip"></i> </div><div class="desc"><h4>Top tip</h4><p>
<b></b>Visit the <a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/Departments/Environmental%20Management%20Department">Environmental Management Department page</a> to see how we, the City, manage our heritage resources.</p></div></div></span><p>Read more about Cape Town's heritage in our
<a href="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Graphics%20and%20educational%20material/Enviroworks_Jul11.pdf" target="_blank">Enviroworks heritage edition</a>.</p> | | GP0|#80ad615e-e43f-4a44-b335-7c3b739c2898;L0|#080ad615e-e43f-4a44-b335-7c3b739c2898|What is heritage?;GTSet|#ef3a64a2-d764-44bc-9d69-3a63d3fadea1;GPP|#84f2503a-3a8a-41c3-94eb-6ec7df540154;GPP|#b9188e62-cf1a-433d-a10c-06e34a7d1593;GPP|#c529c1ac-1f8d-48ae-8079-d34f4dae9c57;GP0|#0ec2e408-5fbf-4dbd-85a9-44876025bf62;L0|#00ec2e408-5fbf-4dbd-85a9-44876025bf62|What is heritage?;GPP|#2ae3f437-a951-4df5-aac0-8e6139c44925;GPP|#b61ba3b6-e2ed-4500-bee7-e523686ba8bf;GPP|#af370586-9ba3-404a-9d6e-02066ca42752 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Heritage is much more than just old buildings, statues, museums and tours: Heritage is our roots; our spirit; that which makes us who we are, and it is very much ‘alive’. | |
