In recognition of this variety and heritage, major-tournament golf has found the Island again, with the United States Open championship coming to the Shinnecock links next year for the third time in two decades.
The question of how well a piece has been staged bedevils the dance world, particularly if the choreographer is dead and particularly if the heritage of major figures like Balanchine, Tudor, Frederick Ashton or Martha Graham is at stake.
US President Barack Obama conferred the award on veterans of Hispanic, African-American and Jewish heritage from major combat operations in World War Two, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
The difficult transportation logistics to outside markets, lack of support services, high cost of fuel, poor availability of water, little heritage of major commercial activity, high costs of doing business, limited domestic market for by-catch and other factors, all work against the establishment of a domestic tuna industry like those of many Pacific Island countries.
"Conservation and heritage is a major priority," he insists.
Ironically, it is the awareness of the importance of heritage by the major houses that is making the situation so difficult for museums.
Certainly the Russian heritage is a major ingredient in this particular vein of modernism, which was made richer by the example of the Bauhaus.
Carole Souter, the fund's director, said the board decided that while "both imaginative and technically impressive," the Spiral would not deliver major heritage benefits.
The remains of 'Copperopolis' – once the epicentre of the world's copper industry – are to be preserved as a major heritage complex on a currently derelict 12 acre site in Swansea, South Wales.
Hull's plan for its year includes an opening ceremony with 3,000 volunteers paying tribute to its heritage as a major fishing port, a light show and the planting of thousands of trees to create "sustainable gateways to the city".
Finally, and despite having been given planning permission bravely by the Royal Borough, Lottery funding was withdrawn on the grounds that the Spiral would not have delivered "major heritage benefits".
