Importance of protecting cultural heritage and Museums
Importance of protecting cultural heritage and Museums
Introduction
Globalization has resulted in connecting the world through technology to form global villages and changed the nature of cities and societies. It is not obvious that every person will feel connected to their cultural heritage in this era of globalization, but to some extent others do. Due to the impacts of globalization to societies, cultural heritage has become an important phenomenon. Cultural heritage is a process that provides social values that connect people to their past (Zancheti et al., 2009). In some places, traditions are regarded as archaic and do not have any relevance in the contemporary world. Contrary, some societies perceive cultural heritage as critical activity that provides a lot of benefits. The benefits of cultural heritage can be classified as tangible or intangible. Museums, monuments and movable sites are examples of tangible benefits, while language, religion, traditional dances and music are intangible gains. This paper focuses on the need to protect cultural heritage and provide the important role of museums in its conservation.
Significance of protecting cultural heritage
Cultural heritage has an important role to play in life by preserving a mindset upon which people can identify themselves. As such, this a critical role of cultural heritage the enables people with a particular mindset be attached to their religion, customs and traditional beliefs. In the era of globalization, cultural identify is important as a way of differentiating oneself from others in a cosmopolitan environment. Therefore, it is important to protect cultural heritage because it will serve as a means of maintaining historical messages about culture (Spiridon & Sandu, 2013).
The main role of cultural heritage is to serve as a source of social values that link younger generations to their traditional past. This is integral in providing a sense of unity because people in a diversified society will still have an opportunity to learn about their previous generations (Zancheti et al., 2009). However, people who identify themselves with a particular heritage have a high possibility to help their fellow colleagues. For example, in a major city like New York it is difficult to identify an individual who belongs to your culture because of its diversity. However, through cultural heritage, elements like religion and customs will enable a person in New York to identify a person belonging to their culture. Therefore, protecting cultural heritage is an important undertaking because it provides a basis for communal support that enable people to help each other.
The distinct nature of culture of a particular people is carried through cultural heritage. For example, protection of physical artefacts will serve as a strategy for demonstrating past deeds in that society. Historical education makes sense in the context of cultural heritage because it provides proof in the existence of a particular culture. Here, national museums and monuments have a critical role in protecting cultural heritage by conserving the artifacts. Students who are educated about cultural heritage demonstrate a high degree of unity in the society because they have a better understanding of past generations and their origins (Özlem, 2018).
Contribution of museums in the conservation of cultural heritage
In the contemporary world, there are advances in information technologies, which have changed the way of life for many people. Technology has changed our societal expectations and perception about cultural heritage because of increased levels of interactions (Bowers, 2016). Through increased consequences of globalization, it is clear that we need to reconsider our perception about the changing world through considering our common culture. In order to achieve this need, people are shifting towards cultural heritage as an opportunity to understand their original culture. However, preservation of cultural heritage is facing a lot of challenges because of increased interactions especially how it is presented today.
Museums play an important role in preserving cultural heritage, but have been affected by entrepreneurial perspectives. As such, the role of museums in preserving cultural artefacts has become an important topic in culture discourse (Alcaraz et al., 2009). Ideally, museums play a critical role in ensuring a high level in the sustainability of cultural heritage and ensure it is available for future generations (Del-Barrio et al., 2009). Technology has offered a new frontier in cultural heritage through uploading cultural material through web-based applications. This is a strategy that has become common in the contemporary world, as a way of reducing costs and provide guides for tourist to the sites (Ardisonno et al., 2012). This is a source of changing role of museums in protecting cultural heritage.
Cultural heritage requires demonstration of tangible and intangible proofs of artefacts so that a younger generation can learn and be connected to its traditions. This role can be achieved through artefacts that have been preserved by communities and passed to future generations. Thus, cultural heritage serves as an important source of memory or inspiration that is required for people to learn their cultural identity from a cosmopolitan society. Museums have a sole responsibility of ensuring they protect and present cultural heritage artefacts to the future generations (Özer-Sarı & Nazli, 2018). Protecting tangible artifacts and collection is regarded as the most important role of museums in promoting social, monetary and cultural sustainability of a society.
Another important role of museums in protecting cultural heritage is through collecting, sustaining and learning about certain objects or pieces. This is vital role that museums play in sustaining the cultural capital of societies. As such, the management of museums should incorporate custodianship and creating awareness about cultural artefacts (Gilmore & Rentschler, 2002). Changing global trends and advancement in technology offers another platform for museums to extent their responsibility in preserving cultural heritage. In the contemporary world, museums are inclined towards education through providing information for scientific and cultural studies (Pirnar & Sari, 2013). Its rich heritage of collections does not determine the important role of museums, but how well it serves the cultural insights and reflections. This implies, museums have a major role in offering multiple visions about cultural objects so that it can advance cultural heritage perspectives. In this regard, a museum will serve a major role of unfolding narratives and provide inferences that form the foundation of identifying knowledge, social values and customs (Bodo et al., 2009).
Museum preserve cultural materials that can be passed from one generation to another. This is an important role in linking cultural heritage to current individual and collective identities that promote intangible heritage. For example, through linking present heritage and individual identities, it is possible for the society to solve conflicts based on the information obtained from intercultural dialogue (Bouchard, 2009). Museums provide an important platform for any society to preserve their cultural heritage. The traditional roles of museums in cultural heritage are; providing care for artifacts, preserving heritage, maintaining collections, displaying, and providing knowledge. In the contemporary society, the role of museums has been influenced by technology and it incorporates social and economic values. Museums are an economic activity through tourism and the funds obtained are invested in education and preserving tangible cultural heritage. This is important because availability of funds means that more museums can be built and create more space to hold cultural heritage artefacts (Britain Thinks, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, cultural heritage is significant to undertaking our daily activities in the society especially with the impact of globalization. As a concept, it encompasses certain practices or traditions, which are transferred from one generation to another. Through protecting cultural heritage, nations will be able to safeguard their traditions and provide an equipment of independence. Therefore, it is integral that all citizens in a society should embrace a need to protect cultural heritage so that it can connect young generations to their past, enhance communal support, ignite a sense of unity and identity. Museums play a key role in protecting cultural heritage through preserving, maintaining and presenting artifacts to the society to view and learn. Also, museums create awareness about the existence and proof cultural heritage that makes people able to learn about their culture and experience its benefits. Therefore, cultural heritage is important to the modern society, and museums play a key role to its sustainability.
References
Alcaraz, C., Hume, M. & Mort, G. (2009). Creating sustainable practice in a museum context: Adopting service-centricity in non-profit museums. Australasian Marketing Journal, 17(4); 219-225.
Ardissono, L., Kufik, T. & Petrelli, D. (2012). Personalization in cultural heritage: the road travelled and the one ahead. User Modelling and User Adapted Interaction, 22(1-2), 73- 99.
Bodo, S., Gibbs, K. & Sani, M. (2009). Museums as places for intercultural dialogue: selected practices from Europe. Project MAP for ID.
http://www.mapforid.it/Handbook_MAPforID_EN.pdf
Bouchard, D. (2009). Museums, cultural heritage and dialogue in Northern Ireland: strategies for divided societies. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/identities/PatrimoineBD_en.pdf
Bowers, J. (2016). Developing sustainable tourism through ecomuseology: a case study in the Rupununi region of Guyana. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(5); 758-782.
Britain Thinks (2013). Public perceptions of – and attitudes to – the purposes of museums in society. A report prepared by Britain Thinks for Museums Association. London: Britain Thinks.
http://www.museumsassociation.org/download?id=954916
Del Barrio, M. J., Herrero, L. C., & Sanz, J. Á. (2009). Measuring the efficiency of heritage institutions: A case study of a regional system of museums in Spain. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 10(2); 258- 268.
Gilmore, A. & Rentschler, R. (2002). Changes in museum management: A custodial or marketing emphasis? Journal of Management Development, 21(10); 745-760.
Özer-Sarı, F. & Nazli, M. (2018). Sustaining Cultural Heritage by Means of Museums in an Ever-Changing World. Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, 17(1); 1-14.
Özlem, A. (2018). Importance of “cultural heritage and conservation” concept in the architectural education. Journal of Human Sciences, 15(3); 1700-1710.
Pirnar, İ., & Sari, F. Ö. (2013). The Changing Role of Museums: For Tourists or Local People? International Conference on Sustainable Cultural Heritage Management. Collection of Abstracts, Roma Tre University, Rome.
Spiridon, P. & Sandu, I. (2013). Conservation of cultural heritage: from participation to collaboration. ENCATC Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, 5(1); 43-52.
Zancheti, S., Ferreira-Hidaka, L., Ribeiro, C. & Aguiar, B. (2009). Judgement and Validation in The Burra Charter Process: Introducing Feedback in Assessing the Cultural Significance of Heritage Sites. City & Time, 4 (2); 5.