By; OMOWUMI AKINWALE
Conservation and preservation plays important role in protecting our cultural heritage. Our cultural heritage is what keeps us attached to our religion, traditions and beliefs.
What is Conservation and preservation?
Conservation and preservation go hand in hand and the two methods are used to maintain the state of an object. Conservation is the hands-on act of working directly with the object to maintain its current conditions. For example, conservators are restoration treatments to enhance the objects to its original state or appearance by removing accumulated layers of dirt and/ or adding necessary components that have gone missing.
Preservation is the non-invasive act of minimising deterioration and preventing future damage of the object. For example, storing objects in materials that preserve the quality and longevity of the object such as acid-free tissue.
Conservators: These are museum professionals responsible for examination, preservation and conservation/restoration of cultural materials and heritage. They are responsible for the management of the collections.
What is cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic e expressions and value cultural heritage. (ICOMOS 2002).
Tangible Cultural Heritage
A tangible cultural heritage has a physical presence. It includes artefacts, buildings or landscape. Objects significant to technology, architecture, science and technology are also included.
Intangible Cultural Heritage
This is one not having a physical presence. It includes cultural traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, skills to produce traditional crafts as well as folklore, language, literature and music.
Importance of Cultural Heritage
A nation cultural heritage and history as of great value, unique and to be cherished, it shapes human society. We grew up on stories, mythologies, fables and historical events which help construct our identities. We have always relied on the past to build the present and construct e future. It is essential to protect our cultural heritage because it adds characters, quality of being individual or easily distinguishable to a place, region or community. Cultural Heritage has a positive influence on many aspects as a community develops.
Conservation/Preservation of Cultural Heritage
The preservation of our cultural heritage starts from teaching the younger generation the importance of our ancestors and heritage. We start by teaching our children to practice the traditions and beliefs of our ancestors and telling them to continue to pass this information to future generations. Also teach them to be proud of their roots and heritage. It is important to educate them about important monuments and heritage sites. The government and the education ministry must engage in developing specialised curriculum for children in our school formally and informally. Organizing major events like festivals, carnivals, cultural activities and competitions are also important in creating awareness about our heritage.
The Role Museum play in preserving our museums have a central role in preserving and promoting cultural heritage. Museum is defined as by ICOMS2007, as a non-profit permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment. From the definition it means therefore the museum is a public institution with the main function of collecting , preserving, studying, interpreting and exhibiting objects of cultural and educational values. Most collections in the museum are tangible materials of organic and inorganic nature. These collections are artefacts made from different material like wood, metal and ivory etc. which can be classified under ethnographic and archaeological collections of cultural heritage.
Conclusion
The responsibility of preserving our cultural heritage lies in the hands of the citizen of a nation and includes everybody. It is our collective responsibility to keep our history intact for the coming generation so that they may have the same opportunities to learn about their own roots as we have. The foundation of every country and its society is based on culture. Culture is something we can make in a day, week or month. The development of culture in a society takes time and it is a long process. Understanding our cultural heritage can give us a better sense of our identity and promotes better cooperation in our community. It serves as basis for building a strong nation and national identity.
Omowumi Akinwale is the Principal Conservator National Museums, Kaduna, Nigeria.
