“An institution that aims to study, preserve and enhance the lifestyle, the natural and cultural heritage of a region” (Dictionnaire Larousse, 2009).
In this museum alive, open air, are exposed the crafts, skills, traditions and habitat of a territory. The term “ecomuseum” derives from the Greek “oikòs” which means the house and all that surrounds it (the environment) and “museîon” which literally means “mountain of the muses”, a place in which to preserve the heritage.
It was Georges-Henri Rivière (1897-1985), founder of the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, who developed the concept of “Ecomuseum” in the 1960s and many important ecomuseums arose in France.
The ecomuseum is a cultural institution with which a community undertakes to take care, protect and enhance a territory and is founded on a pact between citizens and institutions.
It is a “new museology” capable of recognizing and enhancing the historical, cultural, landscape, environmental, economic and social resources of the territory.