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7 | 8 . Belchite , Spain | EUROM
exhumed belatedly ( as in Marzabotto ), or erased ( as in Vassieux and Distomo , where new villages were rebuilt on the original sites ).
The heritage preservation of these sites , closely tied to memorial tourism , adopts different approaches depending on the context . At Oradour , with approximately 300,000 visitors annually , it focuses on memory and history . In Lidice , it incorporates an artistic and cultural dimension , including a collection of artworks . At Corbera , an outdoor sculpture museum complements the site . In Distomo , an ethnographic museum is part of the offering . In Vassieux and Marzabotto-Montesole , located within natural parks , naturalist and memorial registers intertwine in defining contemporary heritage values . At Belchite , the preservation of the few remaining ruins accompanies recent tourism developments , currently attracting around 40,000 visitors annually . In Oradour , however , the fragility of its ruined heritage is threatened by tourist activity , although the Ministry of Culture is reportedly increasing its investment in conservation efforts , supported by a subscription campaign launched by the Heritage Foundation . Ultimately , heritage preservation has clearly emerged as a shared concern since the 1980s , even as the political use of “ martyred villages ” as grand national symbols has diminished . These sites , once heavily mobilised in the immediate post-war period , continue to be reinvested in various ways today .
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