WHAT IS IHAH?

The Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) is an autonomous governmental institution, with juridic personality and own patrimony, created to protect the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation.

OUR MISSION

The protection, investigation, conservation, and promotion of the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation.

OUR VISION

To induce the knowledge and value of the different elements that integrate the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation, in order to achieve an approach and reinforcement of the national identity of the Honduran people.

CULTURAL PATRIMONY

In general terms, it is the tangible and intangible creation of human being through time which fulfills a formative and informative function with regard to the present generation. Informative, by providing knowledge on the development, adaptation, creativity, social organization, and world view of the different human groups on the planet regarding their environment; and formative, by inducing with the above the conscience of a particular identity in each one of these groups.

The elements or goods of tangible cultural patrimony are movable and unmovable goods with more than fifty years of antiquity, of anthropological and/or historical interest. Among the former are furniture, jewelry, currency, weapons, wardrobe, tools, machinery, and the document, bibliographic and periodic collections. The architectural and engineering structures (isolated or as part of a group) as well as their natural environs are considered as unmovable cultural goods.

The diverse cultural manifestations of the human groups that possess historical and/or anthropological interest (languages, traditions, religions, knowledge and techniques, art in its diverse forms) are considered as intangible cultural patrimony.

HISTORY

The IHAH was created with the name of National Institute of Anthropology and History by means of Decree No. 245, dated july 22,1952, under the government of Dr. Juan Manuel Gálvez. Its first Director was the Archaeologist Jesus Núñez Chinchilla (1952-1972). The first Organic Law was issued by Decree No. 204 of February 2, 1956.

The Organic Law of 1956 was substituted by Decree No. 118 of 1968. This Decree completely changed the administrative system of the Institution, and its name became that of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History, it was given autonomy, legal personality, and own patrimony, which was finalized 1975, leaving it appointed under the Ministry of Culture.

In 1984, the approval by the National Congress of the Law of Protection of the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation (Decree 81-84) was achieved. This law established the legal framework concerning the protection and conservation of the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation, empowering the IHAH authorization to enforce it.

In December of 1997, the National Congress approved a new Law of Protection of the Cultural Patrimony (Decree 220-97) that supposes a modification and update of the previous Decree 81-84, in accordance with the interests of today.

INTERNAL ORGANIZATION

In its central offices in Tegucigalpa, the IHAH is organized into different departments and sections, which fulfill certain functions regarding the cultural patrimony of the nation. At national level, the IHAH has regional and subregional representations in the central, western and northern areas of the country