A heritage centre, center, or museum is a public facility – typically a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

visitor centre A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visi ...

, or

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

– that is primarily dedicated to the presentation of

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

information about a place and its people, and often also including, to some degree, the area's natural history. Heritage centres typically differ from most traditional museums in featuring a high proportion of "hands-on" exhibits and live or lifelike

specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository f ...

s and practical artifacts. Some are

open-air museums An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

– heritage parks – devoted to depiction of daily life or occupational activity at a particular time and place, and may feature re-creations of typical buildings of an era. Such sites are often used for

experimental archaeology Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks ...

, and as shooting locations for

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and historical-fiction films and television. A few are rebuilt

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s, using the excavated foundations of original buildings, some restore historic structures that were not yet lost, while others are mock-ups built near actual sites of historic value (which may still be subject to ongoing excavation, study, and preservation). Many also have

living museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recrea ...

features, such as costumed staff, demonstrations of and short courses in historical craft-working, dramatic presentations (live-action mock combat, etc.), and other

living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...

activities. Others may be more narrowly focused on a particular occupation or industry, such as rail transport or the early factories or mines around which a community developed. The distinction between a heritage centre or park, and a history-based

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

can become blurred, as at Nikko Edomura, focused on

Feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inven ...

, and

Wild West City Wild West City is a Wild West theme park based on 1880s Dodge City, Kansas, located in Stanhope, New Jersey. In popular culture The park was used as a filming location for ''The Whitest Kids U' Know ''The Whitest Kids U' Know'' (''WKUK'') is an ...

, a self-described "heritage theme park" about the American

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

Examples, by theme

General and multi-era

Gower Heritage Centre Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

* Irish National Heritage Park *

Ryedale Folk Museum Hutton-le-Hole is a small village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, about north-west of Pickering. It is a popular scenic village within the North York Moors National Park. Sheep roam the streets at will. ...

St Fagans National Museum of History St Fagans National Museum of History ( ; cy, Sain Ffagan: Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, links=no), commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, cultur ...

* Telugu Saamskruthika Niketanam (World Telugu Museum)

Former life-ways in particular eras

Butser Ancient Farm Butser Ancient Farm is an archaeological open-air museum and experimental archaeology site located near Petersfield in Hampshire, southern England. Butser features experimental reconstructions of prehistoric, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon buildi ...

Castell Henllys Castell Henllys (Welsh, "castle of the old court") is an important archaeological site in north Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the A487 road between Newport and Cardigan, in the parish of Nevern. The Iron Age hillfort has been the subject of an ...

Columbia State Historic Park Columbia State Historic Park, also known as Columbia Historic District, is a state park unit and National Historic Landmark District preserving historic downtown Columbia, California, United States. It includes almost 30 buildings built during t ...

Craggaunowen Craggaunowen is an archaeological open-air museum in eastern County Clare, Ireland. It is named for the 16th-century castle which is one of its main components. Craggaunowen is located 10 km east of Quin, County Clare. The name Craggaunowe ...

* Flag Fen Bronze and Iron Age Centre * Iron-Age-Danube project *

Peat Moors Centre The Peat Moors Centre lay on the road between Shapwick and Westhay in Somerset, England. The centre was run by the Somerset Historic Environment Service, but Somerset County Council closed it in October 2009 in the course of budget cuts. ...

* Preservation Park *

South Park City South Park City is an open-air museum located at the west end of Front Street in the town of Fairplay in Park County, Colorado. Open from May 15 through October 15, the museum is a historic reconstruction of a mining town from the days of the ...

* West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village

History of transport, industry, and occupations

Bideford Railway Heritage Centre The Bideford Railway Heritage Centre CIC (previously the Bideford and Instow Railway Group) in Devon, England, is responsible for the management of the Bideford station site. The company is also responsible for Instow signal box which opens on ...

Castlefield Castlefield is an inner-city conservation area in Manchester, North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, Quay Street, Deansgate and Chester Road. It was the site of the Roman era fort of Mam ...

Crewe Heritage Centre Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished in ...

Elsecar Heritage Centre Elsecar Heritage Centre is a visitor attraction centre in Elsecar, Barnsley, England. Operated by Barnsley Museums, it has independent shops, studios, galleries, cafes and a large antiques centre in former Victorian engineering workshops. A visi ...

* Gabriel Babb Heritage Centre * Heritage Motor Centre * Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre *

Lowell National Historical Park Lowell National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of the United States located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Established in 1978 a few years after Lowell Heritage State Park, it is operated by the National Park Service and comprises ...

Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre The Nottingham Heritage Railway (formerly known as Great Central Railway (Nottingham) and Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre) is a heritage railway and transport museum on the south side of the village of Ruddington in Nottinghamshire. The ...

Rhondda Heritage Park Rhondda Heritage Park, Trehafod, Rhondda, South Wales is a tourist attraction which offers an insight into the life of the coal mining community that existed in the area until the 1980s. Visitors can experience the life of the coal miners on a g ...

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Heritage Centre The RCMP Heritage Centre (french: Le Centre du patrimoine de la GRC) is a law enforcement museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum houses a number of exhibits on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and artifacts relating to ...

References

{{Reflist Types of museums Cultural heritage *Heritage centre

Examples, by theme

General and multi-era

Former life-ways in particular eras

History of transport, industry, and occupations

See also

References