Social Role of Cultural Heritage and Objectives of Monument Studies

The purpose of the article to establish a connection between the tasks of memorials as scientific discipline and the special characteristics inherent to objects of cultural heritage as monuments of archaeology, history and culture. The scientific novelty consists in the discovery and research of the axiological (value) information inherent in an authentic artifact – a monument of archaeology, history and culture – that has an emotional impact on an individual in order to determine his own coordinates in the spatio-temporal and socio-historical continuum, thus contributing, its socialization, and therefore to determine the methods and means of increasing the efficiency of the specified process. Conclusions. A person due to the establishment of social ties both with the present and with the past (i.e. socialization), perceives himself as an integral part of a certain whole in social and historical aspects. As for modernity, it is provided by all existing culture, but the past in its materiality reaches us due to our cultural heritage – artifacts preserved in their authenticity. Being placed in the modern cultural context, the latter contribute to a kind of “immersion” of the individual in the past, establishing a personal emotional connection with it. At the same time, authentic artifacts play the role of monuments of archaeology, history, and monuments of culture for us depending on the historical or cultural context. This process for the purpose of study, use and improvement is the main subject of monument studies as a scientific discipline, which distinguishes the latter from other scientific disciplines, at the same time establishing a connection with them, which also investigate artifacts of the past (archaeology, source studies, etc.) however, they use the latter mainly for its study.