OPEN-AIR MUSEUMS - TOWARDS THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF ARCHITECTURAL AND CULTURAL LEGACY

Over the past one hundred years, many European countries have introduced open-air museums. Their size or theme may differ. Experience has shown that open-air museums have a positive effect on the preservation of the cultural heritage. In Slovenia, there have been attempts at either opening a national open-air museum or creating a network of regional museums. These tendencies have clashed with prejudices regarding the role and adequacy of such museums.
Experts believe that examples of vernacular architecture could be turned into on-the-spot open-air museums and that projects of such open-air-museum should be given precedence, especially when it comes to villages or towns boasting of architectural value and cultural memory, such as Štanjel and Škocjan in the Kras region. These villages, which have lost most of their permanent inhabitants, but have always attracted tourists and visitors, may survive if the idea of open-air museums is properly developed and applied. The revived villages of Štanjel and Škocjan might thus be turned into open-air museums, and might as such significantly contribute to the promotion of the Kras region.