Interpreting Heritage Sites through Name, History, and Cultural Significance: A Case Study of the Catacombs of Kom El-Shoqafa, Alexandria

Abstract : Interpretation plays a pivotal role in introducing heritage sites. It transforms a site from mere landmarks, remains, or artifacts into living meanings that impact the visitor. The interpretation process contributes effectively to the visitor’s understanding of the site’s history and culture. This understanding leads to the visitor’s awareness of the site’s cultural value and symbolism, which, then, increases the visitor’s responsibility to preserve the heritage sites, whose importance and value are realized through the interpretation process. To achieve a comprehensive interpretation process, interpretation must address several points related to the site. This study focuses on three of the most important of these points: the site’s name, its history, and its cultural significance. The study concludes that interpreting a site’s name is the gateway to understanding the site, an understanding that creates an emotional bond between the visitor and the heritage site. Interpreting the site’s history, on the other hand, connects the site’s past with its present, transforming it into a living entity that interacts with the visitor. The cultural significance of a heritage site is explained through connecting the site to identity, symbolism, and value. The study also examines the site of the Catacombs of Kom El-Shoqafa in Alexandria, Egypt, as a case study interpreting its name, history and cultural significance as a symbol of the intermingling of thoughts, beliefs, architecture, and art style of both ancient Egyptians and the culture of Greek and Roman in Egypt.