EVALUATION OF REAL ETHNOLOGICAL ESTATE

Abstract

The way of living is an expression of the lifestyle of each ethnic community i a certain epoch and at the same time represents a testimony concerning structural changes within family. The evaluation of mutually comparable, uniform or. related monuments, is in fact the weighing of incontestable values in their mutual correlation. A logical consequence of that process is the classification in the vertical sense. There is, however, no doubt that evaluation is only an auxiliary method, an expert standpoint in the conservationist work. In the second half of the seventies, the spatial component was pointed out as one of the most important factors in the process of evaluation of real ethnological monuments, and ethnologists — conservationists started to be interested in little towns, suburbs, and even in great cities. Together with classical valuation criteria in the conservationist work, the ethnological method contributed to a more complete study of the problems of man’s life in various communities and, in general, way of living. In the latest studies, the author points out 6 main criteria: creative and con- structive, development, cultural and civilization, typological, historical, spatial. These »general« criteria are accompanied with 4 operational: age, degree of pre- servation, authenticity and being endangered. These studies are in progress.