The Idea of Culture Observatories- Overview

This article is an attempt to organize knowledge of cultural observatories. In the studies dedicated to the theme of management of culture, this subject is relatively new and less analyzed. The text is based on the classification adopted by J. M. Schuster in 1999, the results of the work of the ENCATC Working Group: Cultural Observatories and Cultural Information and Knowledge and the author’s research. The article presents and compares various models (especially based on networks and institutional forms), scope and objectives of the observatories. However, it also raises questions about the essence of the observatories and the governance of accumulated knowledge.