UNESCO and The Jelling Stones

I seem to have developed quite a fondness for runes in stone since my post on TeknoMagi.

The Jelling Stones represent the birth of Denmark. The inscription on them talks about King Harald’s unification and Christianisation of the Danes (That’s Harald Bluetooth, namesake of the technology). When it comes to national monuments, this is up there with some of the world’s most important. No surprise with it being part of UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites.

The National Museum wants the Jelling Stones moved inside, claiming that the weather has begun to erode the stones. A sensible statement, since I’m guessing the National Museum would have some top class conservators working for them.

UNESCO’s own experts say it’s better to stay where it is, outside, in the rain and cold and submitting to the whim of that crazy climate change. UNESCO would also take away the World Heritage status if the stones are moved.

Whenever I think about museums gaining/losing their autonomy, I always thought about it on a national level. All of a single country’s museums associated under the government or membership organisations, complying with rules handed down and enforced with prissy fatwas. I’m of the belief that museum’s need to start gaining more autonomy in order to act globally, much like people do. I never expected a global organisation essentially blackmailing a national museum. Save your nation’s heritage from dissolving or save the prestige of a UNESCO’s honorific?

I do believe that’s a scenario that never shouldn’t have occurred in the first place. I question the future of such museum organisations that have such carrot-or-stick approaches.