Authors

Discussion

Considering the discursive and associative nature of cultural heritage data that has been pointed out by various scholars, the paper raises the questions of its relevant representation within the database on the example of work-in-progress “St. Retrospect” mapping project.The database includes a repository of various historical sources provided by the Russian National Library and incorporates information on more than 1000  locations and approximately 1000 related historical figures. The structure of the database is designed to store information of different time periods and organizations within the location which makes it possible to assemble a representative historic profile of the location. The map is structured around relations between locations and historical figures, which corresponds with the concept introduced by Russian philosopher Nikolay Fyodorov who determined heritage not as the variety of material objects but as living memory about people of the past. Designed as an open source project, its mission is not only to raise awareness about culturally significant sites among the local community, but also to engage them into evaluation of historic locations and collection of relevant data.