Cultural heritage explains who we are and where we come from, and is therefore important to the present and future. Being the original population in the Arctic areas, the Inuit have during the past centuries adapted to the nature they live in and by, which is one of the world’s most fragile eco systems. The Inuit culture and Arctic way of living are specifically vulnerable, especially seen in the light of the present social developments and climate changes, but the culture is still alive and well in the Greenlandic literature, art, music and food.
In Avannaata Kommunia, there are many different locations with their own distinctive cultural heritage, including listed buildings and buildings of special historic or architectural interest, and valuable cultural environments both within the inhabited areas and in open country. The cultural heritage is constantly influenced by human activity and nature’s evolution. This means that there is a constant need for attention and protection. By planning, we can work actively to protect cultural heritage, while creating new opportunities for experiences and values that benefit society and contribute to creating identity and solidarity. Avannaata Kommunia will prioritize the cultural heritage highly and wish to create a common understanding of protecting and protecting our common heritage and ensuring that these values are not lost.
It is of significant importance to the municipal council to safeguard the northern Greenlandic cultural heritage, in built-up and unbuilt areas alike. The objective is, as a part of future efforts, to include the public more systematically in the work. The citizens obviously play a main role in preserving buildings of special preservation interest, and can at the same time provide valuable contributions to the mapping of cultural heritage and history.
Goals
- An active cultural policy is to ensure that we will be able to pass on our cultural heritage to future generations.
- Cultural heritage is to be made visible as a part of the basis for understanding our towns and settlements, and at the same time it is to be included in future development. We are therefore to strengthen the promotion of cultural heritage in the open land and within our towns and settlements. This is to be done by the use of IT and modern communications platforms.
- Spatial planning and land administration is to be done with due consideration of cultural heritage and cultural differences in various parts of the municipality.
- Through registration, analysis and dissemination, the municipality, in collaboration with the museums, wants to help create greater interest, understanding and consideration / love for the common past, older buildings and urban environments.
- The distinctive character and identity of towns and settlements are not only preserved but also promoted and made visible - both as a tourist destination, but especially as places the local community can be proud of being part of.
- Ilulissat Isfjord was named UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 for its unique natural phenomenon. The municipality therefore has the goal of jointly protecting this by creating knowledge through dissemination of the cultural heritage, initiated with the new Icefjord Centre. In addition, the municipality also wants to launch the use of the modern technologies to promote the dissemination of our shared cultural heritage and focus more on the preservation of this in the future.
