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Christensen (red.): Kulturmiljø mellem forskning og politisk
praksis. Museum Tusculanum, 2003, 131-172.
79. Orvar Löfgren: “Ditt kulturarv är inte mitt.” Etnologiska
perspektiv på landskapet som kulturmiljö och minnesmärke.
Nicolai Carlberg og Søren Møller Christensen (red.):
Kulturmiljø mellem forskning og politisk praksis. Museum
Tusculanum 2003, 85-94.
Summary
The Fisheries and Maritime Museum has participated
in a number of projects relating to the cultural history
of the landscape, including membership of the Cultural
Environment Council, participation in projects on the
Wadden Sea area, and in the Nordic project “Coastal culture
as a resource”. The work on preservation in Denmark and
the role of the museums is discussed against the background
of these projects.
The tradition of preservation of the historical features in
Denmark’s landscape goes back several hundred years, but
the area attracted newfocus in the beginning of the 1990swith
the introduction of the concept of the cultural environment,
signalling that cultural history was no longer perceived as a
collection of isolated elements, but as parts of a whole, an
environment. The responsibility for cultural environments
rested with the Ministry of the Environment, which required
the counties to designate cultural environments worthy
of preservation in their regional plans. Regional cultural
environment councils were established to provide advice to
the authorities.
A new administration was established in 2002, the
Danish National Cultural Heritage Agency under the
Ministry of Culture, which was assigned the task of
supervising the museums and archaeological excavations
under the museum act, and given responsibility by the
Ministry of the Environment for protected buildings, urban
preservation and protected ancient monuments. Meanwhile,
the term “cultural heritage” gained ground at the expense
of the term “cultural environment”. At the same time, apart
from preserving cultural heritage as a quality per se, this
heritage increasingly came to be viewed as a resource, a
means in modern society of attracting tourists, increasing
settlement and strengthening identity. Cultural heritage thus
became closely related to the experience economy.
Management of the cultural heritage often draws upon
the cultural historical knowledge possessed by the museums
by virtue of their research activities. The museums thus find
themselves in a position where they are research institutions
on the one hand and participants in management on the
other. Their research is epistemological and problem based,
while their managerial role is to seek practical solutions
to the planning tasks involved in preservation. It is argued
that the museums are aware of this intermediate position
and should be contributing to the ongoing dialogue between
research and administration.
One of the management tools available to the admi-
nistration is the designation of areas or objects worthy of
preservation. Such designation will often focus on one of
the many aspects of an area which could potentially be
highlighted, thus emphasising this aspect at the expense of
others, with the result that the narrative is frozen. In many
cases such a process of designation can have effects apart
from those which were intended, also on the bordering areas
which were not included in the designation.
The Fisheries and Maritime Museum’s experience
of participation in the various projects is that they have
functioned best in those cases where the project’s content
and goal were well described. This ensures that a project
group can work independently, and benefit from both
the professional partnership and the discussions and
collaborative relationships which arise during the project.
The Museum’s incentive for participating in such projects
is limited if there is no possibility of acquiring additional
knowledge and understanding during the project.
The administration’s goal is fixed by changing govern-
ments, and it is therefore important that there is also an
independent research environment. There should also be an
ongoing dialogue between the various groups working with
cultural heritage to ensure an interplay between research
and management, and to promote cross-disciplinary
cooperation.