What is Cultural Heritage?

Cultural heritage comprises the sources and evidence of human history and culture regardless of origin, development and level of preservation (tangible/material heritage), and the cultural assets associated with this (intangible/non-material heritage). Because of their cultural, scientific and general human values, it is in the state’s interest to protect and preserve cultural heritage.
The basic cultural function of cultural heritage is its direct incorporation into space and active life within it, chiefly in the area of education, the transfer of knowledge and experience from past periods of history, and the strengthening of national originality and cultural authenticity.

Tangible (material) heritage is made up of individual buildings, groups of buildings, areas, objects and collections of objects.

Built heritage comprises buildings (including their associated facilities), decorative elements, equipment and attached land, other built elements, settlements and parts thereof, and spatial arrangements (even if they are formed from natural elements). We can classify built heritage as follows:

• buildings (units): all buildings or built components that have an expressly historical, archaeological, artistic, scientific, social or technical importance;
• groups of buildings: uniform groups of urban or rural buildings that that have an expressly historical, archaeological, artistic, scientific, social or technical importance and are sufficiently interlinked that they comprise spatially definable units;
• areas: joint creations of man and nature, i.e. areas that are partly built and sufficiently recognisable and uniform that they are spatially definable, and have a special historical, archaeological, artistic, scientific, social or technical importance.

With regard to their features, and under the international agreements of which Slovenia is a signatory, the following form part of cultural heritage: built and archaeological heritage, cultural landscapes, movable heritage and collections, national treasures and intangible heritage.

Archaeological heritage comprises all relics, objects and human traces from past periods of history on the surface, in the earth and in water whose preservation and study contributes to the uncovering of the historical development of mankind and his links to the natural environment and for which archaeological research is the main source of information.

Cultural heritage landscapes are special distinct areas of land as recognised by people and whose characteristics and spatial layout are the result of the operation and mutual influence of natural and human factors. The terms ‘integral heritage’ and ‘area of national identity’ are two terms with a wider meaning.

Integral heritage is formed by units of the human environment or nature in which elements of natural and cultural heritage are intertwined and whose value is increased by the fact that both forms of heritage are genetically, functionally or substantively linked and dependent on each other.

Areas of national identity (area of complex open-air cultural heritage protection) comprise areas that contain recognised and representative elements of the Slovenian landscape. What characterises such areas is the density of cultural heritage and the numerous, frequently historically determined, links of co-dependence. As important elements of national identity, which is expressed in spatial features and their interconnections, they create a harmonious and harmonic cultural landscape. The preserved method of management is close to modern concepts of spatial management, which emphasis sustainable management and the protection of resources with the aim of ensuring that space in all its meanings retains its permanent vitality.

Movable heritage and collections are objects of a human and natural origin, individually or in groups. Movable heritage also comprises archive and library material.

A national treasure is a part of movable heritage that has, because of its historical, artistic, scientific or general human importance, such a cultural value that its preservation within the borders of Slovenia is guaranteed.

Intangible (non-material) heritage comprises knowledge, skills, customs, beliefs and values as recognised and realised by people and connected with creation, use, understanding and transmission to current and future generations.