5. Interpretation of heritage

The idea of the presented heritage theory and the earlier displayed eco-museums always implies an interdisciplinary approach which is applied to a specifi cally defi ned space (established always by natural and cultural rather than administrative borders) and which per se implies the inclusion and permanent cooperation with the local community that obligatorily participates in its planning, work and management. In attempting to provide an explanation to the phenomenon of eco-museum, Pierre Mayrand, one of the main protagonists of the movement of eco-museums and new museology, uses the model of “creativity triangle” in which the interpretation of heritage will obtain a key role.

(Figure 2. P. Mayrand’s model of development of ecomuseums)

According to his interpretation, the creativity triangle illustrates the process of development of eco-museums, a process that starts on the initiative of one part of the local population and is fi rst realized with the assistance of experts in a specifi c form of interpretative activities within a geographically bordered area (very similar as in the case of heritage eff orts within the Sagittarius Project). The existence of an (initial) interpretation sensitizes the members of a local community, which signifi cantly increases their interest for the territory in which they live and the awareness of connection with what is interpreted, and consequently their pride as well, because this process enables to recognize and strengthen one’s own identity. As a direct result, the members of a community become more active and assume heritage actions, within which the request for the creation of an eco-museum also arises. Finally, owing to the feedback eff ect, the population is able at a later stage of development, through eco-museums, to interpret itself and defi ne the guidelines of its development. (Rivard 1985: 202-205; Davis 1999: 71-73, Mayrand & Mairesse 2000). Dominique Poulot will say that eco-museums actually transformed the social use of heritage signifi cantly, as they have contributed to the development of a new form of interpretation, which by that (heritage) becomes a process in which, due to the constant questioning of possession, the society or far more concrete a specifi c local community becomes aware of what it actually is (Poulot 1994: 77). The word interpretation comes from the Latin word interpretari (expound, explain, understand) and implies the explanation of the meaning (especially of a text), exposition and understanding.12. The term interpretation often alternates or is identifi ed with communication, particularly in the fi eld of heritage. However, even if the terms communication and interpretation can, quite naturally, be interpreted similarly, we believe that the essential diff erence, in this case and for the purpose of this study brought by the eco-museums within a deeper understanding of heritage, is the change on the level of the concept of participatory interpretation. In other words, the community or population of a territory, as put by P. Mayrand, by creating an eco-museum fi nally becomes enabled to interpret itself and by that infl uence its own development. Without too much surprise we fi nd that the famous French museologist André Desvalles in his analysis of predecessors and infl uence on the development of eco-museums indicates, inter alia, the innovative approach of the methodology of interpretation of the environment defi ned by the American writer and great lover of nature Freeman Tilden13 .

Yet the history of interpretation is not based on a fi ftyyear old tradition of systematic and conscious interpretation of heritage, because interpretation is as old as Homo sapiens – man as a living being with mental capacities. But in the context of deliberating the management and development of a society that is based on heritage resources, we fi nd the intention to better understand this phenomenon by pointing to the tradition of the development of heritage interpretation itself as a specifi c

12 Interpretation also means acting, demonstration, performance. 13 According to Davis 1999: 56.