MUSEUM-RESERVES AS CULTURAL LANDSCAPE SITES: BASED ON NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract

In 2017, the «Sacred Geography of Kazakhstan» program was adopted in the Republic of Kazakhstan with the aim of restoring historical and cultural heritage sites and reviving historical memory. Within the framework of the program, the preservation and development of sites of historical memory are considered an essential component in the formation and enhancement of national consciousness. The program outlines one of its core principles as the idea that these sites, which form the foundation of the nation's historical memory, should serve as cultural and conceptual centers that unite society around a shared historical awareness.

The purpose of this article is to examine museum-reserves as elements of the cultural landscape. It analyzes museum-reserves in Kazakhstan such as Tamgaly, Ulytau, and Issyk, as well as rock art sites in Northern Europe, in the context of cultural landscapes. The article draws on both domestic and international research conducted since the year 2000.

The main task of the article is to provide a comparative historical analysis of domestic and foreign cultural landscapes. It focuses particularly on similarities and differences in the preservation efforts of the Tanum rock carvings in Sweden and the Tamgaly rock carvings in Kazakhstan. Additionally, the article raises the issue of presenting the largest and smallest museum-reserves in Kazakhstan as cultural landscape sites. The study employed the comparative-historical method, landscape-geographical and geoarchaeological approaches, as well as the informational-axiological method. The scientific novelty of the work lies in establishing that museum-reserves are not only historical monuments but also integrated complexes of natural and cultural space. This expands the role of museums in Kazakhstan and serves as a foundation for the formation of historical memory and national consciousness. The scientific outcome of the research is the definition of the role of museum-reserves as cultural landscapes and the demonstration of the possibility of recognizing the Ulytau and Yesik sites as natural-cultural landscapes meeting UNESCO requirements.