Museology and heritage in contemporary cities: a thesis on city management from the perspective of culture and memory preservation

• Main Author: Heloisa Helena Fernandes Gonçalves da Costa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi 2012-04-01
• Series: Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas
• Subjects: Healthy city; Museology; Cultural heritage; Life narrative; Memory
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-81222012000100007&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt

Essentialy considered a space to live, the contemporary cities are complexes territories where memory and heritage have no effective representative function. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the emergence of the 'cultural health', a new concept supported by the relationship between museology, heritage and citizenship. The research was based on fieldwork experience and on memory studies of adults and elderly people that live in urban areas, where they can observe the symbolic meaning of the monuments and similars objects within the museum cities and the cultural landscapes. The way that museums and monuments are inserted in civil society and their power to produce values and cultural codes make them part of the process to promote identities and citizenship. Also, this process can improve the cultural health, the self-esteem and the quality of social interaction. These elements are essential for the building of healthy cities.