The updating of historical and cultural heritage in the museum-type institutions of the specially protected natural areas of the Baikal region

In the era of an increasing anthropogenic impact on nature, people seek to preserve pristine ecological systems and create specially protected natural areas. Such areas become a unique phenomenon of our time since they harmoniously combine natural, historical and cultural heritage and perform functions similar with museums’, which allows perceiving them as “open-air museums”. This article discusses the updating of historical and cultural heritage in the museum-type institutions of the protected areas of the Baikal region. The work is interdisciplinary in nature and written at the intersection of related disciplines: museology, geography, history, ecology, and cultural studies. The article provides specific examples of the conservation and representation of movable and immovable objects of historical, cultural and natural heritage located in the protected areas of the Baikal region, namely in Irkutsk Oblast, in the Republic of Buryatia, in Zabaykalsky Krai. Based on field materials, the article provides a quantitative and qualitative description of the museum-type institutions of the specially protected natural areas of the region; their special role in preserving, interpreting and popularising not only protected areas, but also objects of historical and cultural heritage located in these territories is shown. In addition, the article presents ongoing museumification projects as a priority way of updating the heritage of the protected areas. For example, the Zapovednoe Podlemorye project (Republic of Buryatia), which aims to convert the scientific base in the Davsha village into an environmental educational museum complex “Timeless Shore”, is briefly described. The variety of the historical and cultural sites of the protected areas of the Baikal region from the archaeological finds of researchers of the protected areas to the objects of religious significance. The article contains a brief description of some of the most popular historical and cultural sites of the protected natural areas in the region. The article also emphasises that, in order to preserve and update the heritage of the protected areas of the Baikal region, museum-type institutions have been established, namely, museums, visit centres, open-air exhibitions, exhibition complexes, ecological trails with display objects. In the final part of the article, generalisations and conclusions are made; both positive points and problems are shown regarding the features of preserving and demonstrating the historical and cultural heritage of protected areas as tourist sites. This article is of interest to museologists, travel agencies, and researchers of environmental protection areas.