Cultural Heritage Governance as a Legal Pathway toward Sustainable Development: The Sigiriya World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper examines the role of cultural heritage governance as a legal pathway toward sustainable development, with special reference to the Sigiriya World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka. Drawing from doctrinal legal analysis and interpretive evaluation of both national and international heritage instruments, the study explores how the country’s heritage legislation, principally the Antiquities Ordinance of 1940 and related regulatory frameworks-interfaces with the obligations of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Sigiriya, a site of exceptional archaeological and symbolic value, presents a critical test case for balancing conservation imperatives with social inclusion, community benefit, and sustainable use. Through a close reading of statutory provisions, institutional mandates, and policy mechanisms, the paper identifies gaps between legal protection and practical management, particularly in the integration of cultural heritage within broader sustainable development agendas. The analysis underscores the need for a holistic governance model in which heritage law serves not only as a tool of preservation but also as an enabler of social harmony, economic resilience, and peacebuilding. By situating tangible heritage within the discourse of sustainability, the paper argues for reimagining heritage governance as a dynamic and participatory framework-one that sustains both cultural memory and the living communities connected to it. Sigiriya thus emerges as a site through which the intersections of law, heritage, and sustainability can be meaningfully understood and advanced.