Cultural Treasures Research Articles

Montage: Expanding the Concept of Informing through Cinematic Concepts

In his “Theses on the Philosophy of History”, Walter Benjamin suggests that all cultural treasures “owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism”. The most obvious and prominent examples of cultural treasures in Benjamin’s discourses can be found in monumental architectural works, and history has shown that rulers have really been interested in such splendor stone statements. Benjamin’s discourse challenges a dominant idea that seeks to give an ambitious image of these architectural works with the purpose of confirming and endorsing a splendid cultural past so that it can give shape to an integrated and arbitrary cultural geography. This theoretical study, which has been conducted using library resources, employing the discourse and method of “cinematic thinking”, attempts to review the role of these monumental architectural works in estab-lishing and shaping national cultural geography. This process is an effort to open boundaries of theorization in area of art and architecture, with the help of ideas that moving cinematic images leave in place.

Exploring Heritage of a Hill State - Himachal Pradesh, in India

Tourism is a powerful economic development tool which creates jobs, provides new business opportunities and strengthens local economies. Starting with the local culture and already existing communities and geographies, tourism developments can enhance the interesting and unique aspects of a location. Using local traditions, beliefs, and resources reinforces the cultural heritage of a location, making these new areas thriving cultural hubs. These communities hold the social values of the residents that connect them to their culture and history, and they also promote the education of these values, which attracts tourists and visitors who are interested in understanding local culture. This increased flow of people boosts local businesses, which in turn supports the community by building a strong economic foundation, allowing the local culture to flourish and create an even more vibrant community. It is now well admired worldwide that development and management of tourism at any destination or place, requires a multi-dimensional approach (strengthen the institutional capacity, engage with multiple stakeholders, establish appropriate protocols and systems). When cultural heritage tourism development is done right, it also helps to protect our nation’s natural and cultural treasures and improve the quality of life for residents and visitors. Linking tourism with heritage and culture can do more for local economies than promoting them separately. This article explores the ethnic heritage and emphasizes on the holistic tourism development approach after considering the various heritage tourism resources available in the state.

Apresiasi Intelektual Islam terhadap Naskah Klasik Keagamaan

Manuscripts of the archipelago is one of the important Indonesian cultural treasures which are mostly neglected and only being paid attention by limited intellectual communities who are expert in their field so that its existence is threatened with the passage of time. The existence of this manuscript is similar with that of other cultural legacies such as temples,palaces, places of worships, museums, etc. The number of manuscript is even more than these cultural heritages. Islamic manuscript of the archipelago is one of the invaluable Islamic heritages of this country. These large number of manuscripts have attracted the interest of researchers and those who areconcerned with the manuscript and even the manuscript collectors to continually do inventorization and data recording of these manuscripts. The urgency of manuscript as a cultural heritage that needs to be protected for the sake of cultural evaluation and development in the future . This articlewill secutiuize some lights on Indonesian Muslim intellectual appreciation to the religious manuscript.

Den farlige biografi. Om Lis Jacobsens arkiv og den historiske biografis udfordringer

The article describes an unusually large private archive kept in the Royal Library’s Department of Manuscripts. It is precisely registered, accessible and contains letters, pocket diaries and notebooks, manuscripts and files, treatises and records, accounts, songs and newspaper clippings. It leaves the impression of someone who was aware of her worth and had the resources to the have the traces of her life’s work ordered and preserved. The scheme reflects the archive creator’s self-image. It consists of 193 boxes, which corresponds to 20 shelf meters. What is unusual is that the archive was left by a woman, namely Lis Jacobsen (1882–1961), who was one of Denmark’s few great female scientific personalities in the 20th century. She was a fundraiser, editor, researcher, organizer and founder of The Danish Society for Language and Literature.The article ascertains her historical importance, describes the research possibilities inherent in the archive, and argues that an historical biography of her life and work would be justified. The author accordingly welcomes Kristian Hvidt’s biography Researcher. Furie. Front Soldier (2011), but is puzzled by the reviewers’ reception of it.Proceeding both from the critical reviews and from LJ’s archive and historical importance, the author analyses the historical biography in question. Her aim is to understand why the reception of the biography was so critical. She reviews some of the methodological and analytical stipulations made on a modern biography and argues that the present biographer has ignored several of these. The article is thus an essay that combines an objectively critical review with an account of a valuable cultural treasure at The Royal Library, and also an introduction to modern biographical method.Other recent biographical works are referred to as counter-examples of the LJ-biography under review.

Private international law and the difficult problem to return illegally exported cultural property

Many countries prohibit the exportation of national cultural treasures without government permission. These countries may enforce this obligation within their territory, but they cannot enforce it abroad, when the object has left the country of origin. In the importing country, the foreign export prohibition, being an obligation of public law, cannot be enforced by the country of origin, and also the conflict of laws rules of the importing country will not directly enforce this prohibition as foreign public law. This is recognized not only in the United Kingdom but everywhere and can only be changed by an international instrument providing for the application of foreign public law. If there is no international instrument, foreign States try to enforce their ownership rights that they may have under local patrimony laws. Foreign export prohibitions may, however, be given effect indirectly by the applicable national private law. These foreign prohibitions are not local prohibitions invalidating a contract because overriding mandatory provisions of the lex fori have been violated, but they may invalidate a contract because good morals have been violated. There is no general international instrument invalidating legal transactions violating foreign export prohibitions. States have to apply Article 7 of the Rome Convention of 1980 or Article 9 of the Rome I Regulation on a case-by-case basis.

Analysis and quantitation of volatile organic compounds emitted from plastics used in museum construction by evolved gas analysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Construction materials used in museums for the display, storage, and transportation of artwork must be assessed for their tendency to emit harmful pollution that could potentially damage cultural treasures. Traditionally, a subjective metals corrosion test known as the Oddy test has been widely utilized in museums for this purpose. To augment the Oddy test, an instrumental sampling approach based on evolved gas analysis (EGA) coupled to gas chromatography (GC) with mass spectral (MS) detection has been implemented for the first time to qualitatively identify off-gassed pollutants under specific conditions. This approach is compared to other instrumental methods reported in the literature. This novel application of the EGA sampling technique yields several benefits over traditional testing, including rapidity, high sensitivity, and broad detectability of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Furthermore, unlike other reported instrumental approaches, the EGA method was used to determine quantitatively the amount of VOCs emitted by acetate resins and polyurethane foams under specific conditions using both an external calibration method as well as surrogate response factors. EGA was successfully employed to rapidly characterize emissions from 12 types of common plastics. This analysis is advocated as a rapid pre-screening method to rule out poorly performing materials prior to investing time and energy in Oddy testing. The approach is also useful for rapid, routine testing of construction materials previously vetted by traditional testing, but which may experience detrimental formulation changes over time. As an example, a case study on batch re-orders of rigid expanded poly(vinyl chloride) board stock is presented.

Post-Photographic Presences, or How to Wear a Digital Cloak

This article explores some of the tensions that digital processing introduces to our understanding of photography by focusing on digital images of a Māori cloak from New Zealand held in the UCL Ethnography Collections. The complex, energetic/electrical networks established not only by digital communication technologies but also between Māori people and their taonga (treasured possessions) expand the understanding of both photographic indexicality and Runia’s definition of presence. The wairua, or spiritual energies, channelled in Māori relationships as they are transmitted through important cultural treasures creates a profound experience of co-presence in which objects are understood as simultaneous links to the past, present and future. The article argues that the experience of co-presence in both Māori engagements with important museum objects and the experience of networked digital communications technologies (including digital photographs) allows us to develop an expanded understanding of provenance, or where objects come from (and who they belong to) in museums.

Inventory of Forts in Indonesia

Abstract. The great archipelago in Indonesia with its wealthy and various nature, the products and commodities of tropic agriculture and the rich soil, was through the centuries a region of interest for other countries all over the world. For several reasons some of these countries came to Indonesia to establish their existence and tried to monopolize the trading. These countries such as the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch and the British built strengthened trade stations which later became forts all over Indonesia to defend their interest. The archipelago of Indonesia possesses a great number of fortification-works as legacies of native rulers and those which were built by European trading companies and later became colonial powers in the 16th to the 19th centuries. These legacies include those specific structures built as a defence system during pre and within the period of World War II. These fortresses are nowadaysvaluable subjects, because they might be considered as shared heritage among these countries and Indonesia. It’s important to develop a vision to preserve these particular subjects of heritage, because they are an interesting part of the Indonesian history and its cultural treasures. The Government of the Republic of Indonesia has national program to compile a comprehensive documentation of the existing condition of these various types of forts as cultural heritage. The result of the 3 years project was a comprehensive 442 forts database in Indonesia, which will be very valuable to the implementation of legal protection, preservation matters and adaptive re-use in the future.

Insufficient Maintenance an Achilles Heel of the Broumov Group of Churches

As part of European cooperation here is presented collaboration among Universities on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions, which gives the chance to international young students and professionals to take part on investigations of selected cultural heritage treasures. This report summarizes a structural investigation on two churches from the Broumov Group. The attention was focused on damages within the walls and the roof structure. Moreover laboratory and numerical analyses permitted to gather very important information on the current state of the two buildings and led to several remarks recommendations.

Komunikasi Kelompok Etnis Tionghoa Di Bandung Dalam Menyelenggarakan Event Imlekan

Group communication patterns in use is intensifying meetings between clans or cross-clan in a monastery or a special place to talk and discuss preparations for the event imlekan.dalam Background research that has been formulated by the researcher was How the Chinese Ethnicity Group Communication in Event Organizing Imlekan? The usefulness of this research is the researcher can learn and study the diverse culture of the nation is unique and interesting, and that became a symbol of Indonesian cultural treasures. In addition, researchers can learn koumunikasi technical group within a clan was like and also researchers can study the technical organization of the event was like. Group communication patterns that they use linguistically when it will host the event imlekan is intensifying face to face meetings with directly inter-clan or inter clan in a monastery or a special place to talk and discuss preparations for the event imlekan. Resistance factor is their members who rarely come in the meeting because of busy highly congested, busy generally due to occupation is very dense .kebudayaan Imlekan still refer to the city government, especially municipal reference that the four elements, namely: Tourism Bandung, Keagamis Bandung, Culture Bandung, and Arts Bandung. They often intensify the communication group meetings, conversations and discussions, particularly in the genus itself in terms of purchases of goods to be used in imlekan

Chinese Painting and Traditional Chinese Culture

Having gone through many generations of inheritance and development, Chinese paintings have become world′s artistic and cultural treasure. Chinese culture has influenced the world for thousands of years with its art, philosophy, technology, food, medicine and performing arts. In this article, it is discussed that painting and calligraphy is from fountain, between the traditional culture and traditional art, which impresses the soul of the Chinese traditional culture.

Cultural Treasures or Cash Cows?

Throughout history, the value of art collections has often been too great an enticement to avoid their commodification. Nonetheless, museum advocates must fight to retain their collections even amidst pressure from forces that hold financial control and ultimate decision-making power over them. A case could be made that some view collections as cultural treasures while others view them as cash cows. For instance, the city of Detroit's bankruptcy, due to the national economic downturn and the decline of the city's economic strength, has fostered discussions of selling the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection. That city's financial—and cultural—crisis parallels situations faced by some museums that are nested in colleges and universities. The sagas of four museums nested in institutions of higher education are explored and compared: The Maier Museum at Randolph College; The Rose Museum at Brandeis University; Fisk University; and The University of Iowa. In a final analysis of these case studies and broader concerns, the authors advocate for nested museums to take a strong stance of financial self-sufficiency by creating cooperative ownership networks with other museums. Such a model aims to keep art collections safe from sale by continually keeping them on display at different museum locations while protecting their status as works kept for the public in perpetuity.

The Rape of Kuwait’s National Memory

Abstract:In the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Iraqi forces prosecuted a mass campaign of pillage and destruction. Under the coordinated direction of Iraqi curators who were well acquainted with Kuwait’s cultural treasures, occupying Iraqi troops plundered thousands of cultural objects from museums, libraries, and archives. Among the pillaged cultural spoils were Kuwait’s national archives, comprising the emirate’s historical memory. Until recently, Iraq was beholden to UN sanctions demanding the return of missing persons and property, including Kuwait’s archives. Although the United Nations Security Council for many years has facilitated efforts to search for the lost archives, these efforts have proved futile. This article explores the plausibility of the two most likely scenarios surrounding the cold case of Kuwait’s missing archives: 1) that the current search for the archives has overlooked the possibility that they were unknowingly seized by US forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and are currently being held by the Pentagon; and 2) that the archives may have been intentionally destroyed as part of Saddam Hussein’s aim to obliterate Kuwait’s national identity and annex the emirate as Iraq’s nineteenth province.

Comparison between Expert and Beginner on Calligraphy Letter's Characteristic

Kanji was born in China and has the history of 4,000 years. During the long evolution of history, Kanji played an important social role of ideas’ exchange and cultural heritage; On the other hand, it also formed a kind of unique plastic art accompanying with writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones’ emergence. Calligraphy is the written style of character (Kanji), it is not only a cultural treasure of the Chinese nation, but also become the world's cultural treasure. Traditionally calligraphy technique is handed down mainly through oral teaching. However, the calligraphy technique is reliant on apperceiving heavily, which is one of main reasons that only few people can achieve greater successes even if long-lasting training. Without apperception, it cannot be learnt no matter how hard you study, which was considered as the special tacit knowledge. It is also difficult for some experienced calligraphy to effectively pass on their knowledge to the students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate expert and beginner's calligraphy work characteristic difference. In this study, two Chinese calligraphers with more than 40 years writing experience were employed as expert, who was required to write calligraphy letter as reference. Correspondingly, two university students were employed as beginners to copy their work. Finally, characteristic of their final works were compared in proposed analysis program by computer. The detail element of character feature and relationship between writing gesture and calligraphy letter's pattern was also clarified.

Demonic or Cultural Treasure? Local Perspectives on Vimbuza, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and UNESCO in Malawi

Abstract Vimbuza, one of two Malawian dance forms inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, is a healing ritual practiced by Tumbuka people in Malawi's northern region. Vimbuza refers both to the ailments caused by Vimbuza spirits and the rituals used to heal people with these spirit-induced illnesses. Vimbuza healers diagnose and treat spirit-related illnesses in rituals that combine dress, drumming, singing, and movement. It is sometimes called a “traditional dance” and performed for entertainment rather than healing. Drawing from interviews with practitioners, the general public, and cultural sector professionals, this essay explores the implications of UNESCO recognition for Tumbuka people. Though the impact of Vimbuza's inscription on those most associated with the practice is debatable, it still has local, regional, national, and international value

Using integrated multivariate statistics to assess the hydrochemistry of surface water quality, Lake Taihu basin, China

Natural factors and anthropogenic activities both contribute dissolved chemical loads to lakes and streams. Mineral solubility, geomorphology of the drainage basin, source strengths and climate all contribute to concentrations and their variability. Urbanization and agriculture waste-water particularly lead to aquatic environmental degradation. Major contaminant sources and controls on water quality can be asssessed by analyzing the variability in proportions of major and minor solutes in water coupled to mutivariate statistical methods. The demand for freshwater needed for increasing crop production puulation and industrialization occurs almost everywhere in in China and these conflicting needs have led to widespread water contamination. Because of heavy nutrient loadings from all of these sources, Lake Taihu (eastern China) notably suffers periodic hyper-eutrophication and drinking water deterioration, which has led to shortages of freshwater for the City of Wuxi and other nearby cities. This lake, the third largest freshwater body in China, has historically beeen considered a cultural treasure of China, and has supported long-term fisheries. The is increasing pressure to remediate the present contamination which compromises both aquiculture and the prior economic base centered on tourism. However, remediation cannot be effectively done without first characterizing the broad nature of the non-point source pollution. To this end, we investigated the hydrochemical setting of Lake Taihu to determine how different land use types influence the variability of surface water chemistry in different water sources to the lake. We found that waters broadly show wide variability ranging from calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate hydrochemical facies type to mixed sodium-sulfate-chloride type. Principal components analysis produced three principal components that explained 78% of the variance in the water quality and reflect three major types of water chemistry. Agricultural land use is associated with greater concentrations of nutrients; urban areas with high concentrations of sodium, chloride, sulfate, fluoride and potassium; and natural weathering with calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate. Discriminant analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis produce complementary and similar results. Broadly speaking, future remediation to reduce nutrient loadings to the lake or industrial contamination can now be focused on specific land use practices, which are readily identifiable by using statistics in conjunction with GIS.

Una selección de literatura popular de tradición oral en el universo de Terra de Montes (II)

This article attempts to compile a selection of lullabies, recitations, elementary games, stories, riddles, etc., collected in Terra de Montes. This entire corpus forms what is known as popular literature of oral tradition; a cultural treasure aimed at children from early to third childhood, encompassing ages from zero to eleven. This is a way of satisfying the appetite for innate knowledge that is consolidated through language, games, stories, etc. In short, this is a selection of games which attempts to set children on their way on the exciting journey of life.

Book Review: Dominic Standish, Venice in Environmental Peril:Myth and Reality

Book Review: Dominic Standish, Venice in Environmental Peril: Myth and Reality. Forward by John Elgin. University Press of America, Inc. 2012. ISBN: 9780761856641 (Paperback). 306 Pages. $38.99.[Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http.V/www. transformativestudies, ors O2014 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]On 4 November 1966 a confluence of severe weather - high tides, winds, heavy rains swelling the rivers and canals - led Venice to experience traumatic floods, the worst to hit the city in the twentieth century. In some parts of the city water levels rose to 194 centimetres above mean sea levels, while the Doge's Palace on St. Mark's Square drowned under a meter and a half of sea water. Between three and 5000 Venetians were left homeless as shops and businesses were ruined and homes left uninhabitable. Electricity was knocked out for over a week. Unsurprisingly for a city with as many cultural treasures as Venice, many millions of dollars of damage was done to artworks and historic buildings. Although there were no flood-related deaths in Venice's historical centre, two people died of heart attacks during the flood in Chioggia, a town that sits a few miles south of the city on an island at the mouth of the Lagoon of Venice. Alleyways were left awash with rubbish, dead pigeons, and drowned rats.Destructive and traumatic as the floods of November 1966 undoubtedly were, it is surely no great surprise that Venice would be at risk of flooding. It is with good reason that Venice has at different times been known as the 'City of Water,' the 'Floating City,' 'City of Bridges,' or 'City of Canals.' Venice is composed of 117 islands separated by canals and rivers and linked by bridges, situated in a 56 by 11 kilometre tidal lagoon on the north western shores of the Adriatic Sea. It is thus subject to flooding at high tides and has, throughout the centuries, suffered serious and devastating floods.The events of 1966 were the worst floods in the 20th century, though they were matched in their severity by the more recent floods of 2008. At the foundation of Dominic Standish's argument in Venice in Environmental Peril: Myth and Reality, is the recognition that the impact of earlier historical floods was far greater on the lives of Venetians:Less developed infrastructure and transport, the absence of sea walls, and weaker building structures and defences, meant that Venetian communities were often devastated by flooding. They suffered much more from flooding than Venetians did in 1966 or today. (p9)This straightforward, but important, insight seems at odds with the narrative that has developed in the aftermath of the 1966 floods in which the city has come to be understood to exist on the edge of a precipice. As Standish summarises in his introduction: today's discussion of Venice is pervaded by fear of the sea, a preoccupation with environmental threats; and claims about sinking, rising sea levels, and the destructive impact of tourism, present Venice as a city in peril. (p2)It is this narrative of Venice in Peril that Standish seeks to explain and critique. At one level, his book develops a straightforward, but in the contemporary climate, perhaps unfashionable, counterargument to the different strands of environmentalist preoccupations that, Standish argues, have lead to a failure to properly develop and modernize Venice since the floods of 1966. The most significant example of this is the failure to realise the proposals set out in Project MOSE for a system of 78 mobile flood damns that could control, and where necessary, help to stem water flow into the three main inlets to the Venetian lagoon, thus significantly limiting high tidal flooding. A feasibility study first set this proposal out in 1971, five years after the traumatic floods; legislation was passed to begin the construction project in 1973, but to this day, 40 years later, the project has not been completed. …

National Policies and Local Ordinances on Ifugao Rice Terraces

The Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT) was declared by United Nations EducationalScientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site. It wasknown to the foreigners, particularly the Spaniards in the latter years of 1800sand to the Americans during the early 1900s. Articles and photographs furtherpopularized Ifugao to foreign countries, opening the doors to tourism. Thegovernment of the Philippines formally recognized the Ifugao Rice Terraces in1972 as a national cultural treasure having a high value of world culture. Severalnational and local policies were enacted for the preservation and restoration of theIRT while maintaining it as a tourism destination. However, the implementationof these policies remains a big challenge, calling for a more determined politicalamong the national and local leaders most especially that the IRT is deterioratingdue to man-made and natural factors, which led to the declaration of the IRT asa world heritage in danger.Keywords: Legal Ecology, Ifugao Rice Terraces, policies, World Heritage Site, Tourism,descriptive design, Philippines

MENYIKAPI KEBERTAHANAN BAHASA INDONESIA DALAM MENGHADAPI GLOBALISASI DI BALI

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia in which the existence should be preserved by its own users because it is a part of living culture. Indonesian is a symbol of social and cultural value which bond to its society. It is one of the cultural treasures which can be developed to set the standard of national language. Seeing the rapid development in Bali to a more modern community, the people tend to be multilingual. Therefore there is a challenge for the existence of Indonesian in Bali especially in this global era. Ways to cope with this challenge is for the users to have positive attitude that is to be proud using Indonesian in speaking, to be loyal in using Indonesian and to be responsible in using the language appropriate with the context of the usage.