Cultural Heritage and Museums in Modern Mega-Policy. //VI World Congress for
Central and East European Studies: Divergencies, Convergencies, Uncertainties.
Abstracts. 29 July – 30 August 2000, Tampere, Finland. – Helsinki, 2000 – P. 273.
Cultural heritage and museums in Modern Mega-policy.
Large, more often metropolitan cities have powerful historical and cultural
potential and are places of a concentration of extensive layers of a cultural
heritage including monuments of material and spiritual culture. Being result of
creative human activity , the cultural heritage is great and is diverse. It has a
various degree of safety and study. Than Ancient City, especially grows
importance of cultural values, which were created during centuries, were fixed
during historical development and have appeared concentrated in the modern
mega-policies. Just in cities, since most ancient times (antique policies,
Hellenic city, centers of provinces of Roman empire, Italian cities - states of
Mediaeval epoch) there was a forming in public consciousness of the
"museum" approach to the validity. This centuries-old tradition has received
completion in creation and functioning special institutes (museums, libraries,
archives, etc.) carrying out a storage, study and representation of cultural
heritage according to the requests and requirements of society. In this plan
metropolicy and its museums grantives unique opportunities for
comprehension and development of all values created by previous generations.
The concepts "cultural heritage" and "museum" are ambiguous and deeply
historical. The various contents based on change social economic, ideological
and educational paradigms were put in different epoch in these concepts. For
want of it is important to take into account axiological approach of society and
its relation to a cultural heritage. However contents of these concepts not only
are comparable, but also are in close interrelation.
The museum, on the one hand, acts as institute capable to realize public need
of self-determination, self-understanding through the artifacts. On the other
hand, selecting from existing reality the certain part and saving it museum
expresses the attitude of society to the cultural heritage. Museums (a variety of
their types) in modern cities allows with maximum completeness to save and
to present the visitors a work of art, an achievement of a science and
engineering, unique historical monuments and complexes, rare documents and
manuscripts, memorial things etc. The consideration both diachronism and
synchronism of interaction of a museum and cultural heritage makes the whole
spectrum urgent and of poorly investigated problems of history and
museology. The interest to the given theme is caused by necessity of
realization complex interdisciplinary research of processes of
communications, in which, on our sight, interaction of a museum and cultural
heritage in the modern mega-policy most distinctly is displayed. It is supposed
also to define the directions of this interaction as continuous process, because
cultural heritage is not something constant. The arising today cultural relations
and values, tomorrow turn to component of heritage got new generations of
people. The thesis about importance of a cultural heritage it is not enough
without clear understanding of it spiritual - organizing role in the modern
world and without determination of ways of its preservation and functioning in
a museum.
Coming nearer ХХI century is promised to museums very serious tests,
concerning all traditional system of museum activity. There is a redistribution
of social functions of a museum. The rough development of information
technologies requires radical changes in all spheres of museum work (theory
and technique of an exposition, exposition design, character of directory
service, in training of personnel etc.) Modern postindustrial society does not
appreciate museum conservatism In order to prevent transformation of
museums into popular places of entertainment, the creation of the certain
balance is necessary.