Temporary Exhibition
From Monuments to Thought
Colombian Heritage for Humanity
October 24th through January 20th 2013
Fourteen cultural sites and manifestations of Colombia have been recognized as heritage by UNESCO. Seven of them have been inscribed as World Heritage in their condition of material assets. The other seven are included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The set of these sites and manifestations presents the great richness and cultural and natural diversity of our country. However, it is important to point out that this is only a small part of our heritage.
These nomination processes for Colombia are a recent fact, of no more than thirty years. This began in 1984 and has been intermittent according to the different paces assumed by the communities, the cultural policies of each government and the interests or motivations to give priority to one or another cultural manifestation.
Initially, the recognitions were focused on material assets, following a monumental idea of heritage. In order to respond to the policies of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage developed by UNESCO in Paris, the valuation and identification of the intangible cultural field has significantly intensified since 2008.
Thus, we may recognize a perspective of the heritage valuation of a wider complexity, one that is oriented From Monument to Thought, title chosen for this exhibition to organize its route. The monumentality of the cultural assets has yielded its tangible materiality to highlight more abstract aspects of the cultural creation. We have come then to admire not only the majesty of constructed work, but also of knowledge, word and thought.
For the exhibition, the seven assets and seven expressions have been gathered into five thematic groups, whose route leads us along a learning path full of emotion:
1. Hispanic Heritage
2. Pre-Columbian Memory
3. Cultural Ecosystems and Biodiversity.
4. The Mestizo Festivity
5. Ancestral Word and Thought
The show invites visitors to understand and identify the cultural meaning offered by these assets and manifestations, which are prominent due to their universal and outstanding value, and to explore their contributions, which have constituted us as a people and nation.
As a whole, they set up a historical legacy which prompts a reflection on our present, and motivates new ways of perceiving, feeling and communicating with the communities who are bearers of this heritage and with the moral legacy given to humanity.
