El patrimonio cultural material y el inmaterial: buenas prácticas para su preservación

Abstract

The policies of cultural protection, in an early stage, began to show some concern about the material supports of culture. In the seventies and eighties, they start to focus on knowledge, information, skills, significance and meanings. It was not until the nineties that specific programs for the protection of the immaterial dimensions of culture started their practical application. The article includes reflections about the way of doing things and also about the knowledge closely associated to the ritual practices and to the driving action of individuals. It is exactly in this environment that the concepts of “material cultural heritage” vs. “immaterial cultural heritage” turn out to be less operative, because the body of tradition carriers, the matters used for their own survival or for symbolic purposes, the mentality, the meanings, the emotions, etc., cannot be treated separately in the protection and conservation programs.