Categories and Definitions of Heritage within the Church of Sweden. : A study of allocation of state funds regarding preservation.

Swedish cultural heritage policies put heritage of the Church of Sweden in an exceptional position. It is protected by law and managed by the Church of Sweden which receives a yearly economical compensation from the Swedish government to assure a continued protection and care. The purpose of this study has been to examine categories and definitions that are used in the formulations of the protection of this part of the national cultural heritage. The study also analyses the values and motives behind the distribution, which is being regulated by said definitions. To achieve this, I have answered questions about to what kind of projects the compensation has been distributed, focusing on the appointed object and intervention categories. These classifications have been compared to the projects actual character, and also to official guidelines and policies. The results of the study show that the distribution of the government compensation follow official guidelines more often than not, but also that the project categorizations are frequently misguiding in comparison to the actual character of the projects. In written statements from the Swedish National Heritage Board and the Church of Sweden a dissonance regarding their respective value perspectives has been shown. The big difference is found in a question of definitions regarding the nature of the religious heritage in policy documents. Definitions of cultural heritage are crucial in heritage management. The classification stated in policy documents and used during the management of the heritage of the Church of Sweden, is also defining what is included. These classifications and definitions are part of the traditional western heritage management discourse. By using theoretical frameworks like Authorized Heritage Discourse the results of the study has been put in a perspective of using categories as way to manifest material heritage. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.