The conservation of living cultural heritage toward World Heritage inscription: a case study of Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan, Thailand

A novel pre-nomination readiness assessment framework for living cultural heritage properties reveals Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, as highly prepared for World Heritage inscription. The study, integrating eight key dimensions—living heritage, Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity, integrity, people-centred conservation, governance and management, Historic Urban Landscape, and sustainability—demonstrates the site's strengths in continuous religious use, ritual transmission, contextual authenticity, and community participation, while identifying critical gaps in buffer-zone protection, integrated governance, urban development control, tourism management, intergenerational transmission, and safeguarding of intangible heritage. This approach extends traditional UNESCO-oriented assessments by operationalizing living heritage values before nomination, providing a transferable decision-support framework for similar sites globally.

Thinnakorn, W., Klaibanmai, K., Noonsuk, W., & Bongsasilp, B. (2026). The conservation of living cultural heritage toward World Heritage inscription: a case study of Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan, Thailand. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2026.2731706