Perception of the Modern Movement in Architecture as Cultural Heritage

Summary When the definition of cultural heritage in architecture is questioned regarding the perception of society, the results demonstrate that people identify cultural heritage as both material and spiritual achievements in the past and as a reflection of identity associated with historical monuments. Furthermore, the distinction between monument and cultural heritage does not have a well-distinguished definition for society in most cases. Therefore, the perception of people in the appraisal of cultural heritage consistently obscures the protection process, especially regarding the heritage of the Modern Movement era in architecture which started to be seen in the 20th century. While the experts acknowledge Modern Movement artefacts as cultural heritage, in most cases the perception of non-experts differs. Therefore, its architectural merit is not appreciated by society in the way it deserves, neither as an artefact nor as cultural heritage. By both literature review and performed research, this paper aims to analyse the reasons which create deprecation regarding the evaluation of Modern Movement heritage. Furthermore, it tries to suggest a series of actions which can be taken for achieving the protection of Modern Movement heritage.