If the glorious past bores people, then make it relevant, intriguing, if not fun. Try showing a hit war movie near the memorial. That wasn't a problem for Hong Kong's Western Market, which was restored and rented out to shops. If a nation's past is to be preserved, it must serve the present and the future. Indeed, while a conservator's first duty is to guard its collections, they should eventually be shared, at least in microfilm.
Many historians balk at campaigns to popularize the past, often with good reason.
But poor implementation of an idea doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad one. With the great events and personages of the past made part of the public consciousness, people will be more likely to patronize and, indeed, fight for the documents embodying history. The Mahatma's writings are no longer just collector's items to be sold for gain, but a window into the evolution of every Indian's soul. The Proclamation of Philippine Independence becomes a high point not just of Filipino nationalism, but of Asia's own freedom struggle. Then there would be more people like Mrs. Adoracion Bolos, director of the National Library, who doggedly pursued the thieves of the Philippine Revolutionary Papers even at risk to her life.