Museums and ICH

Museums and ICH

AYE AYE THINN (MA. Archaeology)

Around the world, so many varieties of museums are now being opened with the various purposes. In the Wikipedia, it is mentioned as “The English "museum" comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as "museums" (or rarely, "musea"). It is originally from the Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseion), which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts), and hence a building set apart for study and the arts, especially the Musaeum  (institute) for philosophy and research at Alexandria by Ptolemy I Soter about 280 BCE. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens.

 Actually, museums come from the houses of the private collectors. The antiquities were really expensive and so only the higher standard like royal families and wealthy persons could afford to collect then. When they got those precious things, they wanted to show and boost to others how much they rich and what kind of antiquities they had collected but not to the public. In Europe, during the Renaissance (18th century AD), most of the monarchies were diminished and the palaces had opened to the public to display the antiquities collected by the royal families. At that time, there were no display and conservation techniques for the antiquities and the purposes of displaying the objects were not to educate the public but just to show then. The late 19th and early 20th centuries are called as "The Museum Period" or "The Museum Age”, people had become to realize that museums should be in both an intellectual and physical sense.

 In 1946, International Council of Museums (ICOM) was founded as the organization of museums and the museums of all over the world are getting together to promote and protect the natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible. With approximately 30,000 members in 137 countries, ICOM is a network of museum professionals acting in a wide range of museum-and heritage-related disciplines.

People are now understanding that museums can educate by displaying not only the tangible cultural heritage (TCH) but also the Intangible cultural heritage(ICH).ICOM therefore adopted during the 21st General Conference in Vienna, Austria, in 2007 as follows;  “A museum is 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.”

Hence, According to the museum definition of ICOM, every museum should acquire, conserve, exhibit and research the display objects, communicate and educate the people. Moreover, museums should display both TCH and ICH objects. For Myanmar people, the tangible cultural heritage (TCH) is not so strange but the Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is not familiar.

Now a day, “the global becomes as a great village” and thus it is so hard to safeguard the own customs and traditions of every country. Some are now in danger stage and it is necessary to safeguard immediately.

Thus, “The convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)” was founded by UNESCO in Paris on October 2003. The Purposes of the Convention (2003) are;

       i.            To safeguard the intangible cultural    heritage

     ii.             To ensure respect for the intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned;

  iii.             levels of the importance of the intangible cultural heritage and of ensuring mutual appreciation thereof;

  iv.            To provide for international cooperation and assistance.

The meaning of the Intangible Cultural   Heritage mentioned by the convention is; “The practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills- as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts, and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.

This intangible cultural    heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.”    

There are (5) domains of ICH;

1.     Oral traditions and expression, including language as a vehicle of the ICH

(Folktale, Manuscripts, traditional games)

2. Performing arts (visual art, theater, vocal arts, music and film)

3. Social practice, rituals and festive events

(Social customs and traditions, traditional economic systems, systems of social organization, traditional ceremonies)

4. Knowledge and practice concerning nature and the universe

 (Traditional knowledge, local genius, traditional medicine)

5. Traditional craftsmanship (painting, sculpture, Architecture, dress, clothing, traditional food and drinks, traditional modes of transportation)

Most of these domains can be displayed in the museums. Every country understands that the people can be educated to safeguard their ICH via the museums. Especially, in the cultural museums and ethnological museums, by displaying the traditions and customs, traditional ceremonies, traditional economic systems, traditional musical instruments, Manuscripts, traditional games of nationalities, it can be promoted to cherish the traditions and customs of the nationlities and then to safeguard them.

In the conclusion, to educate the people about ICH through the museums, the museums should also be attractive. The museum without attraction cannot educate the people although it has so many TCH, ICH objects and their facts and figures. The museums without visitors are like the dead museums. That’s why, every museum should do that mentioned by ICOM as “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.”