Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by society.
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented, or a private collection of art formed by an individual, family or institution that may grant no public access. A museum normally has a collecting policy for new acquisitions, so only objects in certain categories and of a certain quality are accepted into the collection. The process by which an object is formally included in the collection is called accessioning and each object is given a unique accession number.
The Blue Shield, formerly the International Committee of the Blue Shield, is an international organization founded in 1996 to protect the world's cultural heritage from threats such as armed conflict and natural disasters. Originally intended as the "cultural equivalent of the Red Cross", its name derives from the blue shield symbol designed by Jan Zachwatowicz, used to signify cultural sites protected by the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict.
The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) provides an extensible ontology for concepts and information in cultural heritage and museum documentation. It is the international standard (ISO 21127:2023) for the controlled exchange of cultural heritage information. Galleries, libraries, archives, museums (GLAMs), and other cultural institutions are encouraged to use the CIDOC CRM to enhance accessibility to museum-related information and knowledge.
International Museum Day (IMD) is an international day held annually on or around 18 May, coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The event highlights a specific theme which changes every year reflecting a relevant theme or issue facing museums internationally. IMD provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them as to the challenges that museums face, and raise public awareness on the role museums play in the development of society. It also promotes dialogue between museum professionals.
The FRBRoo initiative is a joint effort of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model and Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records international working groups to establish "a formal ontology intended to capture and represent the underlying semantics of bibliographic information and to facilitate the integration, mediation, and interchange of bibliographic and museum information."
The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) is a global organisation for conservation and restoration professionals with over two thousand members in over fifty countries. IIC seeks to promote the knowledge, methods and working standards needed to protect and preserve historic and artistic works throughout the world.
The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) is a nongovernmental civil society organisation (CSO) that conducts scholarly research and training within the discipline of combatting cultural property crime. Established in 2009 with the aim of exploring the gaps in the international legal framework which addresses art and antiquities crimes. ARCA was founded by Dr. Noah Charney, an art and art crime historian, as well as a published author.
The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, better known as the Carabinieri T.P.C., is the branch of the Italian Carabinieri responsible for combatting art and antiquities crimes and is viewed as an experienced and efficient task force.
UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects is the international treaty on the subject of cultural property protection. It attempts to strengthen the main weaknesses of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The UNIDROIT Convention seeks to fight the illicit trafficking of cultural property by modifying the buyer's behaviour, obliging him/her to check the legitimacy of their purchase.
Alissandra Cummins is a Barbadian art historian, educator, and scholar; she is a leading expert on Caribbean heritage, museum development, and art. Cummins is Director of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society and she is a lecturer in Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of the West Indies. She is board chair of International Journal of Intangible Heritage. She is on the board of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, and the International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship. She was the Chairperson of the UNESCO Executive Board, from 2011 to 2013.
Julien Anfruns is a French lawyer and a French business executive. Formerly, he was the Director of Corporate Affairs for Philip Morris, France and a member of the Executive Committee. He also served as a French senior civil servant, and was nominated in September 2013 to serve as a member of the Council of State, “Conseil d’Etat” (France) as a supreme court judge.
The UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property is an international treaty to combat the illegal trade in cultural items. It was signed on 14 November 1970 and came into effect on 24 April 1972. As of February 2024, 143 states have ratified the convention.
Anne-Catherine Robert is a Belgian museum professional and lecturer at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne who also served as Director General of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), from May 2014 through November 2016.
Hans-Martin Hinz is a German museum professional. From 2010 to 2016 he was President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
Lightweight Information Describing Objects (LIDO) is an XML schema for describing museum or collection objects. Memory institutions use LIDO for “exposing, sharing and connecting data on the web”. It can be applied to all kind of disciplines in cultural heritage, e.g. art, natural history, technology, etc. LIDO is a specific application of CIDOC CRM.
Deaccessioning is the process by which a work of art or other object is permanently removed from a museum's collection to sell it or otherwise dispose of it.
The Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM) is Australia's national membership organisation for conservation professionals. Its members are mainly professional conservators, conservation students and cultural heritage member organisations in the Australian and Pacific region. It provides services for members and resources for the public and associated cultural heritage organisations and liaises with other professional associations including the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), the Australian Society of Archivists and Australian Museums and Galleries Association.
The Pennsylvania Declaration was a statement of ethics issued by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on April 1, 1970. It affirmed that the Penn Museum would no longer acquire objects that lacked provenance or collection histories. The declaration aimed to distinguish the Penn Museum's collection practices from illegal antiquity trading while maintaining trust with countries where the university engaged in field research. This declaration marked the first time that a museum had taken formal steps to guarantee the ethical acquisition of materials and to deter looting and illicit antiquities trading. Froelich Rainey, director of the Penn Museum, presented the declaration at the meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in conjunction with the issue of its treaty known as the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
Luís Raposo is a Portuguese archeologist and writer. He has published about two and a half hundred work up to the present. He is the President of ICOM Europe.
