02716nas a2200121   4500000000100000008004100001100001500042245005000057300001000107490000700117520245600124022001402580                                       d1 aKim Dongil00aThe Theoretical Approach of Cultural Heritage  a41-770 v753 aThis study aims to define the term “c ultural heritage” and its subordinate concepts, such as “tangible cultural heritage” and “intangible cultural heritage.” Tangible cultural heritage includes not only historic buildings, artifacts, documents and records, etc., but also intangible cultural heritage, natural heritage, and registered cultural heritage.Historic buildings exclude relics but include monuments and historic sites, such as habitats, tombs, palanquins, etc., which are evidence of tangible cultural heritage.In Korea, historic buildings are chosen and protected by the state or local governments of cities and provinces. In China too, immovable tangible cultural heritage is protected by the state, provinces, prefectures, and counties as part of cultural heritage protection units. In other words, cultural heritage can be classified as registered and unregistered heritage, with information for the public focused on registered cultural heritage.The academic category of cultural heritage studies can be classified into survey, education, preservation, restoration, and utilization of cultural heritage, and it can be understood as a multidisciplinary study involving the fields of archaeology, history, anthropology, folklore, civilization, art, and tourism. In addition, studies on apparels and architecture are also integrated with cultural heritage studies.Simultaneously, cultural heritage is also a part of all these fields of study. Thus, the concept of civilization includes the concept of cultural heritage, which in turn includes unregistered cultural heritage, and hence cultural heritage studies should involve studies on unregistered heritage.This study focuses on exploring historic buildings, and the findings show that the public in the modern society focus mainly on registered cultural heritage, while unregistered cultural heritage does not receive much attention, particularly unregistered historic buildings that exist underground. Multiple subsurface historic buildings have been damaged over the course of time, and if modern society does not preserve and protect the traces of a previous civilization, it will not only lose the cultural heritage associated with it but also the civilization itself. This problem can be resolved by promoting cultural heritage studies, whose goal is to preserve and protect the cultural heritage of previous civilizations and pass on the legacy to future generations.  a1229-8697