How can you help in preservation of Cultural Property ?

Kshetrimayum Kamaljit *

View of Kangla - The sacred place of Manipur in August 2012 :: Pix - Nongmai M

Before discussing how we can preserve the past, or even what of the past we should preserve, it is essential to know the answer of the question 'Why is the past important'?

From our understanding of human perception, it is clear that we only perceive or know something by correlating it with an existing image; we only know things by reference to the past. Therefore, a personal past is essential to us.

Denial of an individual's past, like the denial of an individual's belief, has always been seen as a restriction on individual liberty and UNESCO identifies a cultural heritage as an essential human right, as it does food and water (Lowenthal 1996). The past has many forms: oral history, written history, buildings, landscape, objects, pictures, memories, sounds, smells, people, etc.

A cultural property is something that has been passed down from the past by our forefathers and it belongs to all of us, it is our collective responsibility to preserve and maintain it. With a little thought and care everybody could contribute to the cause of conservation.

A layman might normally think that how he/she can contribute in such an act. But by following certain guidelines and directions, one can show their civic duty by helping in the preservation of our Cultural heritage.

1. We should not indulge in defacing the objects/monuments. If possible help in checking the menace of vandalism.

2. We should learn proper techniques of handling, transporting and storing different types of artifacts.

3. If possible we should try to know what might harm the cultural property and stop doing that.

4. We should not hesitate in taking professionals help at the first sign of decay. We should not fall to the temptation of resorting to curative conservation unless really qualified to do so.

5. We should try to act as a precursor to generate and mound public opinion on issues related to conservation.

6. We should never forget that "Prevention is better than Cure", so we should try to give greater emphasis on Preventive conservation.

7. And we should also realize that the task of conservation is too big to be left alone to museum/archaeology/archives department and conservation professionals. We all must lend our bit.