THE CITY’S INTANGIBLE HERITAGE. MUSEALISATION, PROTECTION, EDUCATION, M. KWIECIŃSKA (ED.), THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF CRACOW 2016, 327 PP., ILL.

Abstract

The 2016 publication The city’s intangible heritage. Musealisation, protection, education sums up an interdisciplinary conference organised by the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow. The book is of particular interest in terms of acknowledging the role of Polish museology in implementing the provisions of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. Its novelty in terms of previous similar elaborations results from tackling the city’s aspect of this heritage. There still does not appear to be enough works on the diversity of the cultural areas mentioned in the Convention’s recommendations. It is imperative to expand research beyond the most frequently analysed culture of the countryside, as the city’s heritage is a valuable and diverse aspect of human activity. In recent years it has been particularly prone to fragmentation and degradation because of the dynamics of urban processes, social and economic changes and migrations of peoples. Both the authors of the publication, and the participants in the conference – museum professionals, museologists, heritage interpreters both from Poland and abroad – deal with questions concerning the aspects of identity and the city’s audiosphere, the safeguarding of its intangible heritage, musealisation and depositaries, as well as education.