The concept of a cultural heritage object (terminological overview)

Abstract

Cultural heritage is a special phenomenon of human culture. There are definitions of heritage as a substratum of identity, evidence of the development of civilization, an artifact connecting the present and the past, etc. The actualization of cultural heritage, its return to spiritual and economic circulation can serve ideological tasks. Heritage can act as a symbol of the ideological foundations of society, demonstrate strategic priorities that are of particular importance for modernity. Cultural heritage, being a product of creative activity of generations, is formed by a unique combination of circumstances, and, as a result, is unique and non-renewable. All these factors demonstrate the special potential of the heritage, which should be recognized as practically inexhaustible. For this set of reasons, there is a difficulty in interpreting the concept of an object of cultural heritage. This field of scientific search remains an exclusively debatable space with many options for interpreting the key concept. The purpose of the study is to consider the interpretations of the concept of cultural heritage and to determine the specifics of its nature. Simultaneous reference to related concepts allows us to expand the idea of cultural heritage as a collective historical memory expressed in tangible and intangible artifacts. The interdisciplinary methodology based on the comparative method is designed to determine the most concise and capacious definition of heritage, which will reveal the features of its potential actualization in the interests of the state and society.