Tożsamość w krajobrazach nie tylko kulturowych województwa mazowieckiego

Abstract

The article presents areas distinguished by local tradition and the preservation of rituals and customs in the Mazovian Voivodeship (Mazovia region) and points out the role of society in shaping and preserving intangible cultural heritage. Additionally, an assessment of the state of preservation or development of synthetic characteristics of the municipal landscape, such as tradition, identity, and localness, was carried out following the methodology outlined in the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers dated January 11, 2019, regarding the preparation of landscape audits. The analyses were conducted based on the results of a survey carried out by the research team of the Department of Spatial Planning and Environmental Sciences at the Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography at the Warsaw University of Technology, commissioned by the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw, within the territory of the Mazovian Voivodeship. The research survey included 9 questions related to cultural heritage, of which, for the purposes of this article, 4 questions directly related to material and intangible heritage were analyzed among the 6,160 surveys conducted. The scope of analysis of material heritage pertained to the presence of traditional architecture, and the intangible heritage included ethnographic regions, preserved traditions, rituals, and customs, as well as the engagement of the society in the “cultural life” of their small homelands. The analysis of the questionnaires allowed for the confirmation of the presence of previously identified and indicated elements in the documents of the voivodeship self-government, as well as the identification of new areas of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the Mazovian voivodeship. These findings were compared with the literature on the subject and the records in the documents of the voivodeship self-government. The results of the study indicated the significant role of local self-government units, cultural institutions, as well as associations and organizations that bring together local communities in shaping and preserving the intangible cultural heritage. The degree of engagement of the respondents in cultivating traditions, rituals, and customs was found to be independent of their location in ethnographic regions, according to the survey responses. The responses of the survey participants also pointed to the “return to roots” trend resulting from the growing interest in folk culture, supported by popularizing and promoting folk traditions. In the process of intergenerational transfer of values and the richness of cultural heritage, education of the society, especially the younger generation, plays a crucial role. Key words: cultural landscape, tradition, architecture, ethnographic regions, cultural heritage