2026/2(45)
Contents
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Occupation Regime and
Nazi Criminals in the Krasnodar Region (1942-1943): An Analysis
of Eyewitness Testimonies
APPLIED RESEARCH
On the spread of stone architecture in the Arctic region. Construction
of a cathedral in the Sumskoy Fortress
Art project “My Contemporaries”: аxiological foundations
Traditional water transport
of the Amur basin
Authorial repetition and copy
in the creative practice of Vladimir painters of the 1980s - 1990s (based on the archive of GOSNIIR
Scientific Expertise Department)
Formation and development
of copyright in China: from doctrine to instruments of state cultural policy
HERITAGE PRESERVATION
Study of the X-ray of “Landscape. Pargolovo” by Fyodor Vasilyev
(the Radischev Art Museum, Saratov)
Cultural transmission mechanisms and modes in the context of historical development of the Stronsky artistic dynasty
Digital twin as an object of protection of lost heritage
Chukotka baidara: technology and the preservation of traditions. Experience building an Eskimo baidara in the village of Sireniki
in 2025
Historical practices and conceptual evolution in the conservation
of China's large archaeological sites
MUSEOLOGY
Tainitskaya Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin: historical and architectural review
Mikhalskaya O., Chuvilkina Yu.
Contribution of collector Felix Evgenievich Vishnevsky to the development of Russian museum collections
Biblical scenes on an 18th century tiled stove of the Novodevichy convent in Moscow
Publ. 04/05/2026
Archives
DOI 10.34685/HI.2026.75.89.006
Molodin A.
Digital twin as an object of protection of lost heritage
Abstract. The article addresses a museological problem: how to define the ontological and legal status of a digital catalog record in cases of irreversible loss or inaccessibility of the material carrier. The study is motivated by the specific conditions of distributed and diasporic heritage, which are marked by limited institutional oversight, fragmented holdings, and broken provenance. Its aim is to conceptualize the digital similar not as a secondary representation or mere “copy,” but as a “container of responsibility”—an autonomous unit of preservation capable of operationalizing, and under certain conditions functionally substituting for, the physical object within the sphere of professional ethics. Methodologically, the article combines a functional-institutional approach with an analysis of international digital preservation standards (OAIS) and metadata protocols (PREMIS, PROV). It argues against a narrowly technological understanding of the digital twin and instead treats it as an integrated structure composed of descriptive, evidentiary, procedural, and legal layers. The article shows that when the material object disappears, the “data stream” shifts into a socio-procedural domain in which digital provenance—the documented history of how information was generated—and the action log become the principal mechanisms for legitimizing knowledge. It further argues that revision history functions as a form of institutional memory that renders responsibility observable, while access regimes and rights belong to the object’s very ontology by constituting its operative boundaries. On this basis, the study formulates a museum-normative minimum of functional requirements for data architecture necessary to preserve evidentiary integrity and ensure the governability of heritage in digital environments. It concludes that the digital twin constitutes a new form of museum obligation and secures the verifiability of knowledge about a lost artifact.
Keywords: digital twin, container of responsibility, diasporic heritage, loss of material carrier, digital provenance, institutional memory, museum documentation, architecture of trust, long-term preservation, legal access regimes.
Molodin Alexander Vladimirovich,
PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor,
Novosibirsk State University of Architecture
and Civil Engineering (Novosibirsk)
Email: avmolodin@gmail.com
Published: The Heritage Institute Journal, 2026/2(45)
URL: http://nasledie-journal.ru/en/journals/869.html
Founder
Likhachev Russian Research
Institute for Cultural
and Natural Heritage
Publisher
Likhachev Russian Research
Institute for Cultural
and Natural Heritage
Certificate
of the Mass information mediaregistration:
ЭЛ № ФС 77–60211,
date: 17.12.2014
Frequency
4 issues per year
Published on-line only
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