Rzecz dawna - materialne pozostałości z niedalekiej przeszłości a społeczeństwo. Zagadnienia wstępne

Abstrakt

The article discusses the issue of social perception of cultural goods, material heritage, monuments, artefacts, and related categories, in comparison with scientific, conservation, and legal discourse. The aim of the text is to highlight the multifaceted problem of ill-defined terms and, at the same time, the social understanding of so-called “old objects,” while outlining proposals and recommendations for the future. The article serves as an introduction to the subject and, at the same time, contributes to a broader discussion concerning the ambiguity of many terms related to cultural heritage and the lack of a single, universally accepted interpretation of the concept of a monument/heritage site. The problem under discussion should be linked to various disciplines, as well as to approaches such as “studies of things”, heritology, or “new materialism” which propose new ways of approaching old objects and new methods of defining cultural artefacts. The text focuses on products of material culture, mainly from the 20th and 21st centuries – i.e. contemporary artefacts, ethnographic artefacts, cultural artefacts, etc. – thus on objects of the recent past as well as contemporary ones, situated at the intersection of science, heritage protection systems, and society, which is increasingly engaged in cultural heritage.