Cultural landscape as object of heritage: approaches to studying and preservation problems in the open-air museums

In modern open-air museums not only monuments, but also environment - the landscapes which historically developed as a result of long interaction of the human being and the nature are objects of protection and revitalization. Till last decade the XX century the cultural landscape wasn't considered as independent object of heritage, and it represented a component of sights as the environment surrounding of a monument. The Convention on protection of the World Heritage (1992) allocated three main categories of cultural landscapes: the purposefully created - man-made, created on a special plan (gardens, parks, objects of landscape architecture, natural and technical systems, landscapes of settlements), naturally developed - created as a result of processes of purposeful activity and natural evolution (rural, ethnic, historical and industrial, etc.) and associative - the cultures which are associated with any phenomenon (memorable places, sacral districts, creativity places, etc.). Being the carrier of historical memory, the landscape needs special methods of preservation. The most reliable and effective is the muzeumification which is guided by modern concepts of its research. In Russian science there are three main approaches to studying of a cultural landscape: geographical (classical) approach where the landscape is studied as historically adapted by the human being for an environment and a geographical position; ethnological and geographical approach on which the landscape is considered as the environment mastered by a certain ethnos and information and axiological approach where the cultural landscape is investigated as a complex of material and non-material values. Today the concept "cultural landscape" is in focus of interests both " natural sciences", and "humanities", being gradually displaced from geographic area in the social and cultural. The Russian scientists conduct purposeful development of the new methodological bases of research of cultural and natural heritage, strategy of preservation of unique territories with complex regeneration of historical and cultural monuments, traditional forms of managing and environmental management. The priority in this area belongs to the Russian research institute of cultural and natural heritage of D.S. Likhachyov. Memorial estates, national and historical parks, the ecomuseums, ethnoparks and other types of open-air museums, are the most effective model of preservation and presentation of cultural and natural heritage allowing to keep and exhibit objects of heritage in authentic historical, ethnocultural and natural environment. In this case not only monuments of architecture, but also a cultural landscape acts as objects of heritage. Today cultural landscapes are considered as a result of coauthor-ship of the human being and the nature possessing exclusive historical and cultural value and including all complex of the material and non-material values connected with historical formation of the territory. The Russian model of preservation of cultural landscapes in the long term has to correspond to the international programs and tasks which are put forward by UNESCO. So far it should be noted that, despite a large number of acts on protection of heritage, we considerably lag behind many European countries in preservation of historical and cultural landscapes and other objects of heritage.

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