The Law on Museums as a contributor to degradation of museums in the Republic of North Macedonia

Abstract

The North Republic of Macedonia faces state identity problems. The state’s concern is to create a state identity based on the Macedonian national identity. To prove the Macedonian national identity as a state identity, the government (2006-2017) works to create a clear cut history of the Macedonian nationality. The search for and proving of the history of the Macedonians and state “roots” as a clean, ethnically Macedonian state, presents a national pathology. Museums are used as curators of national identity in order to prove this state ideology. But the truth is that the Republic of North Macedonia is a multi-ethnic state with a mixed history that has left social and cultural traces. Despite this, the Law on Museums in the Republic of North Macedonia has been changed to conform to the nationalistic ideology, which has damaged the first value and role of museums. The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums is an international code for integrating any museum and culture into the regional and global context, without discriminating against any element of the museum’s complexity, and it can be used to find areas for improvement. Through the optics of the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, an analysis of the relevant Macedonian legal documents and their changes indicates the reasons for the loss of the traditional role of museums in North Macedonia. In the article’s conclusion, we define the starting points for legal changes, the need to restore the value of museums in the Republic of North Macedonia, and to create socio-spatial-sustainability through museums.

Keywords

• icom code of ethics
• museums
• the law on museums of the republic of north macedonia
• museum socio-spatial-sustainability