[MSN] Bulgarian legislation still lacks laws for preserving the country's cultural heritage.

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Preserving our patrimony
09:00 Mon 15 Jan 2007 - Elitsa Grancharova
 
Bulgaria claims to be the third country in the world with the most
historical, archaeological and cultural monuments, after Italy and Greece.
In spite of this, Bulgarian legislation still lacks laws for preserving the
country's cultural heritage, even though Parliament's committee on culture
has been working on the issue. The committee's deputy chairperson Atanas
Merdjanov spoke to The Sofia Echo about the current status of the country's
patrimony.

"Bulgaria is a country that is civilised and has inherited a
thousand-year-long history," Merdjanov said.

Bulgaria posesses a huge amount of cultural monuments and artefacts.
According to UNESCO statistics, Bulgaria stands in third place after Italy
and Greece with its cultural heritage, he said. In his opinion, this is the
reason the country should aim at more conservative legislation, like that
the committee is working to shape.

In a conservative model, typical for countries in the southern parts of
Europe, the state plays a bigger role in the preservation and popularisation
of its cultural and historic valuables, as well as restricting the moving of
these articles abroad. Countries that have accepted the conservative model
tend to have more cultural monuments and artefacts than countries that have
accepted a more liberal model.

In the parliamentary committee, a consensus was reached on this and, thus
was created a working group of specialists, who, together with MPs, started
intensive work on a project to draft a culture heritage law. "The work on
the complete creation of the draft bill will be a difficult process because
the differences in opinions of the specialists must be overcome," Merdjanov
said.

Over the past 15 years of transition, about 10 draft bills have been sent to
Parliament: none of them won approval. In addition, recommendations by
European experts are connected to making the terminology identical;
accepting common European regulations for protection of patrimony; and
defining clearly the rights and obligations of state bodies, local
governments, organisations and civilians in the process of culture heritage
preservation.

The exact sense of the term "protection of culture monuments" will be
defined in the law, but the accent should be put on, as Merdjanov described
it, socialising of culture heritage. The protection of patrimony will be
mainly oriented towards preventing theft and illegal export, facilitating
access to sites, connecting them to society, and including them in
contemporary public life.

In a wider aspect, the new law aims to clarify and regulate a few major
points: preservation of the culture heritage in its authentic state or
wholeness and its usage as a resource for sustainable development and
quality of life in Bulgaria; formation of public awareness of the
patrimony's significance for national identity and preservation of cultural
diversity; optimisation of the terms for usage of historical monuments and
artefacts in order to meet the civilian's and society's needs; and societal
understanding of the hazards to which the patrimony is exposed and ensuring
of right of access to cultural heritage.

World experience has proven that the fate of cultural heritage is only good
where society's interest is alive and active. Merdjanov said that
specialists are already talking about the fact that in the past, the main
concern was about the objects at museums, a concern that still remains, but
today in many countries, the priorities have changed and they are now
oriented more towards the museum visitors themselves. Even if the pieces are
arranged, well, like they were in a museum, with great precision and care,
if visitors cannot relate to the overall experience, such will not last long
in a society in which nobody is interested in this museum, he said.

In Merdjanov's opinion, foreigners feel respect for the respect that
Bulgarians express towards national writers, historical figures, painters
and the large amount of commemorative museums in Bulgaria. He said that now
it looks like the interest in archaeological discoveries, such as monuments
(like Perperikon, in the eastern Rhodope Mountains), as well as in artefacts
(the Thracian golden treasures and others), has grown. According to him,
this fact also should be supported by the new law for culture heritage
preservation because the word "heritage" has a very engaging meaning when it
refers to culture and history.

Merdjanov said that as a nation, Bulgarians do not value their own patrimony
enough and often show greater curiosity in new things that are outside
Bulgaria: it would be good for them to come back to their roots. In his
opinion, Bulgarians do not respect themselves enough and lack firm knowledge
of who they really are. A society should know its history and artistic
patrimony to develop a national identity. According to Merdjanov, the
country's cultural heritage should be a priority for Bulgaria.

There is regulation concerning the matter, though it, too, could be
considered a part of national cultural heritage: in 1888, Bulgaria created a
law for antiquities tracking and for helping scientific and publishing
enterprises; a more complete law, the first real one of its kind, dates to
1910/11, the Law for Antiquities. Merdjanov said that among the authors and
implementers of the law were the directors of the National Museum and
ministers such as Konstantin Irechek, Ivan Shishman, Andrei Protich, Krustyo
Miyatev, Nikola Mavrodiev.

In addition, Bulgarian land holds hords of archaeological memories and
traditions. From far back, Bulgaria has had a well-developed museum network
and this is the reason a new media policy in the culture heritage field is
needed, something that would increase the sensibility of society towards
Bulgaria's civilised development, Merdjanov said.

The question of why Bulgaria needs to preserve its cultural heritage and
what the country would contribute to Europe's culture, for Merdjanov, is
connected to the morality and aesthetic values necessary for spiritual
development of the self. He said that one can be a citizen of the world only
after he has become a citizen of his own country.

"There is a saying: 'It is easy to love humankind but it is difficult to
love your mother'," Merdjanov said. "The love for one's mother needs action
and care; it takes but it also gives a lot. The way one treats cultural
heritage is a measurement of growth in society, as well as for one
personally. It is also an aspiration and opportunity for communication also
in other civilised societies," he said. This issue concerns mainly the
executive authorities - including the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of
Education - which should speak the same language and have common goals.
According to Merdjanov, the efforts of the above-mentioned institutions
should be systematic and goal-oriented. Undoubtedly, the new law will
contribute in this respect and the new aspect of Bulgaria as an EU member
from January 1 will guarantee and stimulate these processes.

http://www.sofiaecho.com/