National heritage and a monument : the history of the concepts in French culture of the XVIII century

The article discusses the concept of periodization of the history of the formation of the heritage proposed in «Encyclopedic dictionary of Museology» (2011). Further, the author analyzes the opinion of French specialists in the history of heritage, conceptualized the first of the proposed stages - 17901794 years. This is the time when the term in the modern sense is born and begins to be used frequently in French. It is alleged that French culture XVII-XVIII centuries replete with examples of the destruction of monuments of different eras, from antiquity to modern times. Separate initiatives linking the proposals to preserve monuments, relate primarily to the tasks of their descriptions and information about fixing them. Considerable attention is paid to issues of destruction and conservation in the era of the French Revolution. To solve the problems of preservation of evidence of the past in this period produced a new attitude towards them. From now on they cease to be realized as the era of the old regime and are intended to provide aesthetic pleasure and enlightening purposes. Two institutions, generate a new context for the monuments of the past to become a public museum and a list of national heritage. To make recommendations for drawing up a list of national heritage in France in 1790 established the Commission for historical monuments. Despite the difficulties of an objective nature, in the early revolutionary years were created lists of monuments of many old French cities. In parallel with the work on the creation of a list of national heritage was a process of formation of the Museum of French monuments, dedicated to national history. The initiator of its creation was the artist A. Lenoir. The collection of the museum is the monuments of the French medieval sculpture. At that time, the monuments of medieval art would be considered only in terms of their value as historical sources, their artistic value is not detected. In this regard, the Museum of French Monuments regarded as the first in France dedicated a historical museum. In the Restoration period the museum was closed, indicating, according to the researchers, that works of art and objects confiscated during the revolution in the royal family, aristocrats and the church had to find its original location and function. Thus, the revolutionary era, which brought a wave of destruction of monuments, first sharply raised the question of the need to protect the evidence of the past, which led to the beginning of understanding the concept of heritage in its modern interpretation.

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