Historical And Cultural Heritage As A Special Resource Of A Region And A Factor Of Its Social And Economic Development

Abstract

The contemporary situation in the development of culture is characterized by rather controversial tendencies. On the one hand there is a lack of resources for the restoration of many historical and cultural memorials, for the realization of interesting projects, for the maintenance of the activities of cultural institutions in a proper condition. On the other hand, the contemporary period, in spite of all the difficulties is undoubtedly a period of the revelation of many layers of the past, which were previously hidden, of the development of new tendencies in cultural life of the country. Today it is important to understand those basic tendencies, which will determine the features of the development of the culture of the country within the next few years, and maybe for several future decades. The first of such tendencies is the transition from the research and preservation of cultural memorials and nature to the study and preservation of the heritage as a whole in all its variety. This approach presupposes bringing to light all the aggregate of the heritage, which includes not only the outstanding historical and cultural memorials, but also other important elements: popular culture, traditions, crafts, historical urban environment, rural buildings and the system of settling, ethno-cultural environment, natural milieu and so on. All these factors are distinguished not only as the necessary background or conditions of a memorial’s preservation, but on the contrary, they are viewed as a significant integral part of the national cultural heritage, as special elements, determining the originality of the culture of a certain region. The second important tendency of contemporary cultural development is the formation of the system of historical and cultural territories. This new direction in the cultural policy presupposes territorial approach to the preservation of the heritage; the necessity of determining such territories is stimulated by the fact, that this type fell out from the system of the preserved objects. At the same time it becomes evident that the protection and use of single (“separate”) objects cannot be effective outside historical and natural environment that surrounds them. The creation of the system of specially protected cultural territories is motivated by the doubtless fact that the very space, which is filled historical and natural memory, becomes an object of heritage. In contemporary conditions of active economic influence on nature or historical and cultural object their protection is impossible without the preservation of their habitat. The creation of unique territories must simultaneously solve the questions of both protection and rational use of memorials of history, culture and nature. Historical and cultural territory may be defined as a special, integral, spatial object, where natural and historical-cultural objects of extraordinary value and significance exist in traditional natural and socio-cultural environment. It is created on the basis of a system of memorials and the territory, which is objectively connected with them owing to ethnic, economic, historical and geographic factors. In the framework of the conducted research and projects one can talk about the following types of historical and cultural territories: - historical cities, - historical rural settlements and rural territories, - monastic complexes, - country estate complexes, - ethno-ecological regions of small nations habitation, - battlefields, - historical production territories, - historical paths and roads, - archaeological territories. The system of historical and cultural territories may become the main form of preservation of the heritage of the Russian Federation nations. It is interesting to mention, that the concept “ecological framework” is already actively used in the ecological policy of Russia, it is also used in many other countries. It is also necessary to put forward such idea about “historical and cultural framework of the country” for the cultural heritage. One may say that such method has a specific expression in the regional policy – a number of regions specialize in preservation and use of natural and cultural heritage. Thus, the heritage is also an important factor of contemporary socio-cultural and economic development of some regions. It secures the development of the territory on the basis of using this historical, cultural and natural resource which is specifically peculiar to this region. For some territories, which do not have considerable industrial or agrarian potential, the orientation toward cultural wealth of a region becomes one of real possibilities of social growth. Moreover, there is no threat to ecology or social environment; on the contrary, it allows to restore the traditional forms of nature management, the relations between people, the culture. Such development also determines the necessity of creating a special status for such territories, and possibly the change of their administrative and territorial condition. In different regions of the country there exist precedents of such decisions. The urgent task for the realization of proposals about the creation of the system of historical and cultural territories is the elaboration of specific proposals in the form of complex regional program, determining the perspectives of the development of culture, social environment and economy of a specific region. The materials of such program include conceptual model of the future development of the territory, description of methods, which help to establish and use historical, cultural and natural potential, economic calculations and prospective indicators of the main elements of social sphere and economy, recommendations about the character of organizational and management decisions. We become more and more aware of the fact that the heritage is a very important factor of development of both the country as a whole and its regions, which has not been sufficiently appreciated in economic terms. The heritage is a considerable part of national wealth, which has real value terms, and its resource potential is quite comparable with other resources of the country. The detailed estimations of the value of both historical and cultural heritage as a whole and separate memorials of history and culture have not been carried out yet, at the same time one can at least approximately assess the resource potential of the heritage and compare it with other economic indicators with the help of Russian and foreign experience. At present time 86 thousand of historical and cultural memorials (this term means the memorials of archaeology, architecture, history and monumental art) are scheduled and protected by the Russian Federation. The most approximate estimation of their value, which is based on reconstruction costs and does not adequately take into account the art value and originality of objects, gives the sum, which is about 230 billion dollars. It can be considered minimal. Given the proper calculation of the value of the object of heritage and real estimation of the territories of historical and cultural purpose, this indicator can raise up to 12000-15000 billion dollars. The task of perspective cultural policy is the rejection of the current practice of the “dead museums”, of the preservation of external attributes of a memorial when it looses its vitality. The heritage is an important factor of social and economic development of separate cities and territories. One can say that during the last years the historical and cultural heritage works as a new factor in social and economic life of many territories and as a special factor of the development of regional economy.