Rural eco-museums: Tourism development based on sustained development models

Abstract

Aiming at revitalizing the subcultures, constructing the rural heritage ecomuseums began to take place as a far-reaching movement in European countries after the World War II. For the first time, this post-modern phenomenon took shape in Guilan and the Middle East in the year 2002. Guilan's Museum of Rural Heritage simulates and rejuvenates the cultural heritage of the Guilanians in an environment which is similar to the original point of Guilan's rural lifestyle. By gathering the cultural achievements of a diverse spectrum of ethnic groups in Guilan, this conglomerate familiarizes the people of Guilan with their ancestral past and identity. The profound and positive cultural, social, economic and environmental impacts of the rural eco-museums in the last 50 years demonstrate the conformity of the principles of these museums with the objectives of sustainable development. Despite being a newly-constructed complex, Guilan's Museum of Rural Heritage has achieved remarkable breakthroughs, including the revitalization and preservation of ethnic culture, attraction of popular participation and acquisition of the indigenous knowledge needed for the construction and management of such museums which can serve as a pattern for constructing similar museums all around Iran. Seven years of experience and study by the author in the position of Chairwoman of Workshop and Supervisor of the Architectural Studies and being in close contact with the trajectory of completion, circumstances and limitations of the project and her visiting of the successful and credible eco-museums in the world indicate that the construction of such museums is an undeniable necessity to expand the concept of sustainable development and sustainable architecture in the society. © 2010 WIT Press.