The new Strategy 21 Methodology guidelines are designed to assist both government officials and project managers in their daily work, by demonstrating the main approaches to ST21 and proposing implementation methods already tried and tested by various stakeholders. This document provides further valuable guidance and suggests possible answers to some key questions…
Today we face multiple changes in our socioeconomic and cultural context that are modifying the way in which we perceive, experience and transmit cultural heritage. New technologies are also potentiating innovative attitudes that allow audiences to make use of their skills and become active participants. As a response to such challenges, the Ministers of the States parties to the European Cultural Convention declared in Namur in April 2015 the need for a Strategy that would redefine the place and role of cultural heritage in Europe...
Based on the principle that prevention is better than cure, Preventive Conservation refers to a systematic and integrated approach to care, based on strategies developed for the maintenance and up-keep of the heritage. Preventive Conservation is central to any consideration on the use of and access to cultural heritage, and also supports the long term success and appreciation of interventive procedures carried out during remedial conservation and restoration...
Espousing the principle of public participation in the Cultural heritage, Strategy 21 entrusts us all with its care and understanding. Conservation-Restoration refers to the process of care, as well as the professional field of practice concerned with material heritage and is at the heart of this emerging, cross-sectoral landscape of cultural heritage stewardship...
Through the study of our past, archaeology can be a source of inspiration and reflection for the present and the future. To ensure that archaeological heritage can be of value for today’s society and for future generations, archaeological heritage managers are charged with identifying, interpreting, protecting, conserving and presenting archaeological heritage...
Evaluation is a tool supporting an objective, in order to understand how an intervention has been planned and implemented. It provides a realistic assessment of how the goals have been met, results delivered and to whom. It deals with the assessment of the intervention’s impacts. Evaluation is interpretative (comparing different considerations) not merely analytical, like a monitoring that collects data to determine theextent to which output and outcome indicators have been achieved at a certain point of the intervention process...
A heritage policy is holistic when all three components, S, D, and K are progressing equally towards their specific goals, strongly supporting one another’s efforts. An evaluated heritage action is holistic, if it is highly effective in achieving all specific goals (assessing Effectiveness and Strong Balance) and at the same time produces strong positive and mutual synergies between S, K, and D (assessing Cohesion and Mutuality)...
Museums generally have a clear idea of their role in relation to society and the importance of their local presence. They are conscious of their responsibility for consolidating social cohesion while also fostering a sense of involvement in the local area and contributing to the education of the population as a whole. For them, in their outlying location, it is a question of survival to offer access to heritage as a source of knowledge, inspiration and creativity. Such museums therefore develop activities intended to raise heritage awareness among young people, from schoolchildren to university students, through motivating practical heritage work and also new kinds of initiatives run jointly with education centres.
We know how much arts, cultural heritage and culture play a key role in shaping attitudes and gender roles. It is therefore important to be aware of this gender bias in cultural heritage, and to go beyond the usual understand of cultural heritage to ensure a more inclusive sector, with art works, stories and participation of women. Heritage and creative expression have the potential to empower women and girls, not only from a social, civic and political point of view, but also from an economic one.
The Council of Europe’s European Cultural Heritage Strategy (Strategy 21) and the sector guidelines proposed in FRH’s open letter have many points in common. They both seek to address challenges facing heritage management through a participatory and holistic approach, encouraging citizen engagement and good practices including sustainability.
Landscapes have accompanied humankind in our stroll through time, and as such landscapes represent the living archive of our civilization in its struggle to adapt to the natural environment and changeable circumstances; a palimpsest recording the layers of history. Landscapes include the traditional landscapes we are accustomed to such as the ‘seascapes’ along our coasts, the ‘townscapes’ of all urban and rural settlements which are now home to most of the planet´s population, including plazas, squares, historic gardens and parks.
