The Heritage Industry - Essay Example

Industrial archaeology has started to dominate the list of priorities for the British government in the early 19th century, with majority of the funds supporting such edifices coming from various ministries and private institutions. These areas, previously enduring the test of the times with the grandeur and intricateness of its architectural design and structure, eventually become heritage sites, in the desire of people who value the existence of such sites more as remnants of the past for people in the present to view and look back to.

Hewison's view that the proliferation of museums all over the United Kingdom has adversely affected the financial and industrial sectors in terms of national economic development and progress is not the only one that abounds versus the actual interest towards obtaining these heritage sites. One should note that in clear terms, the difference in meaning of 'preservation' and 'conservation' to interpret the factors that contribute to the national heritage industry, is already a source of debate for many.

Preservation in this sense is attributed to retaining the initial context of an object in the pursuit of viewing the original meaning of its existence; conservation referred to the creation of a new context for a new use. Destruction of architectural designs that have long evolved to be national tourist spots to turn these properties into industrially capable areas should indeed be targeted. Because the actual transformation of an old property which has made its mark as an architectural monument of the past, to one which is targeted to attract tourists with no guarantee of any means to have the ability to sustain itself in an estimated timeline of development or existence, has meant that the costs of the sustenance would actually mean higher expenditures for the financial and business sectors, it has become incredibly noticeable that it would entail much more than the organization of people and construction in order to fix and maintain such a site.

Also, the employment of security, cleaning and logistics would require an allocated budget to offer jobs to people. The costs of maintaining such a site to its actual income generating capability and its income generated does not equate to its return of investment. The difference between the meaning of preservation and conservation has become much more imminent in this case. Even the actual existence of monuments erected to commemorate special events that has occurred in British history has become incredulously questionable - how would an edifice constructed in the present times, with large sums of money used in order to have it built, be qualified as a heritage site Instead of retaining these buildings as monuments to the pasts, arguers of the conservation of heritage sites vouch for the development of such sites towards increasing industrial support, such as construction of factories or any other business development site.

With more and more relics of the past being squandered to feed the thirst of the people who wish to have these situated in a place with utmost honor and veneration, who else would define what a heritage site should be Because of the wide scope of the term 'heritage', we come down to a single definition: heritage being a product, a commodity, consumer-driven (Morris, 1997). With this argument comes the fact that because it is a commodity, it is patterned after what the consumer wants and