Surveying the Cultural Heritage of the Swedish Countryside - Success and Failure during the Twentieth Century

Leif Gren

doi:10.37718/csa.2000.03

Abstract

The surveys of the cultural heritage of the Swedish countryside have been carried out in accordance with different laws. This has led to a great specialisation of certain aspects of the cultural heritage, and the evaluation of them has always been a task for specialists. The same specialisation often has characterised the scientific research on ancient monuments, nature, etc. In general an enormous amount of knowledge has been gained, but the historic understanding of why the remains exist at all has never been given as much attention as their physical appearance. This has caused a major separation between the cultural heritage management and the nature conservation.

Highlights

The surveys of the cultural heritage of the Swedish countryside have been carried out in accordance with different laws
Within the traditional cultural heritage management there was a great interest in man-formed nature and the creator of ancient monument surveys karl Alfred Gustawsson shared in principle the perspectives of Sjöbeck
For a long time the survey of the cultural heritage of the countryside has been synonymous with the survey of ancient monuments

Summary

Leif Gren

The surveys of the cultural heritage of the Swedish countryside have been carried out in accordance with different laws This has led to a great specialisation of certain aspects of the cultural heritage, and the evaluation of them has always been a task for specialists. In general an enormous amount of knowledge has been gained, but the historic understanding of why the remains exist at all has never been given as much attention as their physical appearance. This has caused a major separation between the cultural heritage management and the nature conservation. A vast documentation and collecting of places or "national spaces of consciousness" has led to a "natural heritage of culture" and an "archive of chosen places" (Sörlin 1998)

ANCIENT MONUMENTS

NATIONAL ANTIQUITIES monuments had an unofficial function as an

FROM THE SURVEY OF MONUMENTS TO THE DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT LANDSCAPES

FUTURE SURVEYS

Findings

CONCLUSION