MUSEUM AND WAR. NOTES ON THE DESTINY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

The article is devoted to the studying of the dialectic of relations between such important social phenomena as war and museum. The features and problems of these relations at different epochs of human history are considered – the Ancient World, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern era. The authors suggest the principle orientations in the attitude towards the cultural heritage of the Other – on the one hand, towards destruction, on the other – towards appropriation and absorption. The latter was aimed to depriving the enemy of its symbolic capital, neutralizing its sacred core. The article emphasizes the peculiarities of the existence of the museum activity and its socio-cultural functions in the context of various totalitarian regimes. The main attention is paid to the analysis of the transformation of the status and role of the museum in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war.