Historical sites are places that are considered the common heritage of humanity. Historical sites are among the places included in almost every tourist’s travel plan both in domestic and international trips.
Historical sites, which sometimes fascinate us with their beauty and sometimes help us feel an important event to our bones, are strictly protected both by the countries in which they are located and through various international organizations.
However, a large part of the task of protecting historical places falls on the tourists who visit these places. If we want these cultural heritages to be passed on to the next generations without any damage, there are certain rules that we must follow during our visit.

1) DO NOT TAKE ANY OBJECTS FROM HISTORICAL SITES
One of the most common problems encountered in historical sites is that visitors must take any object from that point. It is possible to come across tourists trying to take a small piece from the works of architectural value.
It is completely forbidden to take stones or soil from places of historical importance such as cemeteries. Although many tourists say that they do it for the sake of souvenirs, this well-intentioned approach can cause irreparable damage to the historical monument.
2) DON’T POLLUTE THE SURROUNDINGS OF HISTORICAL SITES
A lot of garbage thrown on the ground causes pollution of the environment, and garbage such as glass or paper can ignite due to the hot weather and cause damage to the ruins and destruction of historical sites.
3) DO NOT LIGHT A FIRE IN HISTORICAL SITES
It is generally quite risky to light a fire, especially at points of historical value, and to light a fire is to directly put the whole area at risk. For this reason, it is forbidden to light a fire at the points where each historical site is located. Therefore, you should not light a fire around a historical site and when you see someone lighting a fire, you should report the situation to the authorities.

4) DO NOT CLIMB OBJECTS IN HISTORICAL SITES
One of the most favorite moments of tourist trips is taking photos. Countless photos are taken throughout the trip to make the trips immortal, and with the influence of social media, we share the photos taken on social media as soon as they are taken.
One of the rules to be followed is not to climb on historical monuments for the sake of taking better photos and not to make actions that may damage these structures.
5) DO NOT TOUCH HISTORICAL ARTIFACTS
There are many museums and ruins where historical artifacts are located both in Turkey and in various parts of the world. Today, in almost many museums, historical artifacts are in protected glass cases.
However, the pieces that cannot be placed in glass cases are exhibited openly in the museum. Touching or even touching these pieces may cause the texture of the historical artifact to be deformed. Therefore, these artifacts should be visited without touching them.
6) DO NOT WRITE OR DRAW ON HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS
One of the main reasons why many historical monuments are irreversibly damaged is writing and drawing on monuments and buildings.
Although some people violate this rule for religious and cultural reasons, it is completely forbidden to write or draw on historical monuments because of the damage it causes. You should follow this rule and report the situation to the authorities when you see someone treating historical monuments in this way.
7) PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BAG WHEN VISITING HISTORICAL MONUMENTS IN NARROW SPACES
One of the reasons why many historical artifacts are damaged in open-air historical museums and ruins is the damage to these artifacts by backpacks.
Especially when visiting historical monuments, make sure that your backpack does not rub against any point in narrow and crowded areas. While passing through crowded areas, your backpack may scratch a historical wall or hit an object on display and cause damage.
8) VISIT IN ACCORDANCE WITH RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL SENSITIVITIES
Especially when you go abroad, it is important to follow certain sensitivities when visiting a historical point belonging to a different culture and belief. You should behave respectfully, especially when visiting monuments that have been traumatized in the memories of societies.
On the other hand, when visiting historical sites of religious importance, you need to act both respectfully and in accordance with the rules of that faith. For example; when visiting mosques and mausoleums, you should wear a dress suitable for hijab.

We talked about the rules that local and foreign tourists should follow when visiting historical tourist sites.
Each individual should have maximum awareness in order to transfer these world heritages, which are protected as much as possible by institutions and have survived to the present day, to the next generations with all their beauty.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)