The Box of Captured Things

The Box of Captured Things is a classic fairy tale set in the late twentieth century.  As the unnamed girl travels through Bulgaria and Romania with her dying father, the landscape she traverses includes elements of the Roman, Medieval, and now-dying modern civilizations that once occupied that space.  Is the Box of Captured Things a prison that limits the freedom of its captives or a place of preservation?  What is our proper relationship to history?