Kulturarv – et begreb til forhandling

The international organisations active in the field of cultural conservation represent the normative framework for the protection of culture and heritage. Within this administrative and legal system, ideas about the overall meaning of the cultural heritage preservation concept are created and disseminated, and these have implications for museums’ obligations (collection, recording, conservation, research and communication), which collectively can be seen as society’s overall effort to preserve cultural heritage. The subject of this article is to examine how cultural conservation efforts shift focus in step with changes in society’s overall understanding of the concept of cultural heritage – which by nature is the object of these conservation efforts. The most recent UNESCO conventions on culture (The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and The Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions) testify to a growing appreciation of the value of this overall concept, focusing on people, right down to individual level – whereas focus was previously on national unity and a shared ”story” as the identification markers. The situation may seem especially justified by the distinction between tangible and intangible heritage, in which the intangible is increasingly taken into account. This article highlights key concepts and the continuing debate about their importance in the normative system. The emphasis is on the increasing value attributed to the concept of heritage, and the distinction between tangible and intangible heritage. Against this background, possible consequences for the basic conservation effort are discussed, because this is the foundation of the fundamental idea of what a museum is, as well as justifying the normative system in the field of culture.