Zprávy památkové péče 2018, 78(1):30-34 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2018.1.06
Archeology and the public in international conventions
- ARÚP AV ČR
The participation of the public in the protection of archaeological heritage has become an intensely discussed topic at the European level in recent years. International conventions and charters reflect this topic in an extremely interesting way. The European Cultural Convention, the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, the Charter for the Protection and Management of Archaeological Heritage, the Convention on the Archaeological Heritage of Europe, the European Landscape Convention, and the Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society together provide a remarkable look at the development of views on the role of the public in protecting cultural properties. The basic feature of the international conventions created in the second half of the 20th century is the effort to educate the public, to whom has been designated a primarily passive role of consumer of worthy and proper professional instruction. The change in such an approach can best be demonstrated in the Faro Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, which includes the right of the public to learn about its past among fundamental human rights. This leads to the extraordinary emphasis placed on the public not only to protect cultural heritage, but also on the right to utilize its potential.
The Faro Convention points to weaknesses in existing approaches of domestic heritage care while at the same time suggesting a possible direction for future development. The prevailing trend in communication with the public in the Czech Republic remains popularizing activities, which unfortunately see the public as a passive consumer of either professional information or often simply entertainment. This makes it that much more important to remind ourselves of the meaning and intentions of the Faro Convention, because it shows a perspective path that marks the direction of future protection; above all, it provides a sense of preservation of archaeological heritage and more.
Keywords: international conventions, archeology, archaeological heritage, public, protection of archaeological heritage
Published: March 1, 2018 Show citation
References
- Paulina Florjanowicz (ed.), When Valletta meets Faro. The reality of European archaeology in the 21st century (EAC Occasional Paper No. 11), Namur 2016.
- Victoria M. van der Haas - Peter A. C. Schut (edd.), The Valletta Convention Twenty Years After - Benefits, Problems, Challenges (EAC Occasional Paper No. 9), Namur 2014.
- Evžen Neustupný, Archeologie pro všechny, in: Renata Šmidtová - Miroslav Popelka et al. (edd.), Veřejná archeologie IV, Praha 2013, s. 87-94.
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