Conservation and Preservation

Conservation and Preservation
Interactions between Theory and Practice
In memoriam Alois Riegl (1858-1905)
Proceedings of the International Conference of the
ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for the Theory and
the Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration
23-27 April 2008 (Vienna, Austria)
Edited by
MICHAEL S. FALSER, WILFRIED LIPP, ANDRZEJ TOMASZEWSKI
Edizioni Polistampa
CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION
Interactions between Theory and Practice
In memoriam Alois Riegl (1858-1905)
Proceedings of the International Conference of the
ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for the Theory and
the Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration
23-27 April 2008 (Vienna, Austria)
Edited by
MICHAEL S. FALSER, WILFRIED LIPP, ANDRZEJ TOMASZEWSKI
In collaboration with the
FONDAZIONE ROMUALDO DEL BIANCO, FLORENCE, ITALY
Under the honorary patronage of:
The publication of this volume has been made possible by generous funding of the
DEUTSCHE FORSCHUNGSGEMEINSCHAFT (GERMAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION)
in the context of the
CLUSTER OF EXCELLENCE 270/1
“ASIA AND EUROPE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT” OF HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY
EDITORIAL WORK: MICHAEL S. FALSER
© 2010 Edizioni Polistampa
Via Livorno, 8/32 - 50142 Firenze
Tel. 055 737871 (15 linee)
[email protected] - www.polistampa.com
ISBN 978-88-596-0746-5
Table of Contents
Wilfried Lipp, Michael S. Falser
Preface of ICOMOS Austria to the Vienna Conference
5
Paolo Del Bianco
Preface of the Foundation Romualdo Del Bianco, Florence
9
Niels Gutschow
Foreword of the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”,
Heidelberg University.
Towards a transcultural discourse in conservation and restoration. Review and outlook
11
SESSION 1
Pillars of conservation. Reflections on its European roots
Jukka Jokilehto
The idea of conservation. An overview
21
Christiane Schmuckle-Mollard
Viollet-le-Duc and his followers. French theories in the 19th and the 20th centuries
37
Peter Burman
Ruskin’s children. John Ruskin, the ‘Good Steward’, and his influence today
47
Andreas Lehne
Georg Dehio, Alois Riegl, Max Dvořák – a threshold in theory development
69
Ursula Schädler-Saub
Teoria e metodologia del restauro. Italian contributions to conservation
in theory and practice
81
SESSION 2
Doctrinal texts in review. From European standards to global issues
Bogusl⁄ aw Szmygin
Formal analysis of doctrinal texts in heritage protection
97
Andrzej Tomaszewski
From Athens 1931 to Venice 1964. History and actuality
107
Michael S. Falser
From Venice 1964 to Nara 1994 – changing concepts of authenticity?
115
Duncan Marshall
The Burra Charter in an international context – the implications
of international doctrine for practice in Australia
133
4
Table of Contents
SESSION 3
Perspectives from the ICOMOS Scientific Committees
Zbigniew Kobyliński
Contemporary archaeological heritage management: conflicts between research,
preservation and presentation
143
Christoph Machat
The vernacular between theory and practice
159
Irmela Spelsberg
Cultural landscape – an expanding notion and its challenges for conservation
173
Natalia Dushkina
The “challenge of change” and the 20th-century heritage
187
Erzsébet Kovács
Theoretical and practical issues of conservation in the context of tourism
201
SESSION 4
Conservation philosophy in today’s transcultural reality
Jörg Haspel
Contrast versus context. A conflict between the authenticity of the past
and the authenticity of the present?
215
Gamini Wijesuriya
Conservation in context
233
Giora Solar
Conservation and religion
249
Dinu Bumbaru
Communities, communications, conservation philosophy
257
Wilfried Lipp
The cult of authenticity in the age of fake
269
Eduard Sekler
In praise of principles
277
Dedicated to Alois Riegl in the 150th anniversary of his birth (1858-1905)
An Alois Riegl gewidmet an seinem 150. Geburtstag (1858-1905)
Andrzej Tomaszewski
In memoriam Alois Riegl (in English)
In memoriam Alois Riegl (in German)
Information about the authors
289
291
293
Wilfried Lipp
ICOMOS Austria
Michael S. Falser
ICOMOS Austria
Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, Heidelberg University
Preface of ICOMOS Austria to the Vienna Conference
Theory and practice are often considered to be two different things and this shows
in the controversy both sides engage in. The advocates of practice reproach the
exponents of theory of being too theoretical and the theorists claim that practitioners do not have an understanding that encompasses the totality of the subject.
Numerous examples provide evidence of the tension between the seemingly different positions.
The arts make up one such field. For example, having ‘knowledge’ of art on the
one hand and being able to ‘understand’ the ‘meaning’ of art on the other end up as
contrary positions: these are occupied by the art connoisseur who is an intimate expert
of works of art on the one side and the proponents of the ‘right attitude’, the access
to experiencing the secrets of art on the other.
Conservation is – to a large extent – a mixed bundle of applied disciplines and
seems to be therefore primarily a field of practice. In this context the long tradition
of artists and restorers begins in the Renaissance with Raphael – acknowledged as the
father of conservation – who was in charge of conserving antique structures in
Rome. For hundreds of years it was practical experience which counted as one of the
leading principles guiding restoration work.
However in the interpretation of art both the theory of restoration and that of
conservation ask for the ‘right attitude’ when dealing with monuments and sites. It is
a question of the meaning of restoration which comprises all the difficult perspectives
of originality, authenticity, integrity, totality, fragment, retouch, cleaning, etc.
Thus in reality theory and practice do not exist in splendid isolation, but are rather
connected to each other in many ways. Theoretical views influence and change practice; innovation and technical developments feed back into theory. Furthermore by
acknowledging a multiplicity of practices, colourful variations resulting from the
diversity of specific cultural traditions allow pluralistic methods to become a part of
the repertoire of conservators. New perspectives are opened and by looking over the
broad shoulders of theory and experience that the forefathers of modern conservation
Alois Riegl, Georg Dehio and John Ruskin among others provide us, we can accept
the challenges of the future. Conservation and restoration theory and practice therefore are not rigid norms but evolve with time and differ across the world. And not to
forget – both theory and practice depend on the prevailing social, political and eco-
6
Preface of ICOMOS Austria to the Vienna Conference
nomic climate. Finding a balance between fundamental orientations and possible
modifications is the challenge today.
ICOMOS responds to this challenge by its International Scientific Committees
(ISCS). The Theory Committee serves as the umbrella over the iscs by ensuring that
the essential principles of conservation are preserved. The conference draws on the
premise that theory and practice are not two separate entities and the link between the
two indeed can become comprehensible through sharing experiences and engaging
with the current debate on conservation.
The conference proceedings comprise of 20 contributions organised in four sections.
Session 1 Pillars of conservation – reflections on its European roots gives an overview
over the major European theorists of conservation in the 19th and early 20th centuries
in four countries: Viollet-le-Duc and the French theorists, Ruskin and the English
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the German and Austrian theorists
with Georg Dehio, Alois Riegl and Max Dvořák and the Italian School around
Cesare Brandi.
Session 2 Doctrinal texts in review – from European standards to global issues tries to
set the main theorists discussed in session 1 in relation to the two early European doctrinal texts of conservation/preservation that continue to be influential in a globalized
field today, the Athens Charter of 1931 and the Venice Charter of 1964, whereas two
other contributions critique these documents as Eurocentric and discuss the need to
open this doctrinal approach to global concerns and transcultural positions: the
Japanese Nara Document of Authenticity of 1994 and the Australian Burra Charter
of 1999.
Session 3 Perspectives of the ICOMOS Scientific Committees comprises of different case studies, investigated under the aegis of the ICOMOS’ Scientific Committees, in which a theoretical background is grafted onto a practical and transcultural conservation approach: archaeology, vernacular heritage, cultural landscape
management, modern/20th-century heritage and tourism management of cultural
heritage sites.
Session 4 Conservation philosophy in today’s transcultural reality, the final session of
the book, discusses actual problems and new global challenges to conservation in theory and transcultural practice: different interpretations of the concepts of authenticity and the construction of value in religious conflicts, community stakeholder communication and in times of the new medial phenomena such as reconstruction,
simulation and virtual reality.
The conference was planned as a commemoration of Alois Riegl’s 150th birth anniversary in 2008 in Vienna. Alois Riegl opened the doors to the process of change in the
Preface of ICOMOS Austria to the Vienna Conference
7
theory and practice of conservation. This conference volume honours his work with
contributions that offer fresh perspectives extending the work he initiated.
Special thanks go to the Paolo Del Bianco Foundation, Florence, Italy as a partner of ICOMOS ISC Theory and to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German
Research Foundation) in the context of the Cluster of Excellence 270/1 “Asia and
Europe in a Global Context” of Heidelberg University for providing the funding for
this publication.
ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Theory and Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration. Vienna
Congress 23-26 April 2008, participants in post congress tour to World Heritage Cultural Landscape of Wachau
(Dürnstein, April 26th 2008). Left to right: Dinu Bumbaru, Michael Falser, Erzsébet Kovács, Wilfried Lipp,
Franz Neuwirth kneeling, Peter Waldhäusl, Sun Xin, Duncan Marshall, Yumi Isabelle Akieda kneeling, behind her standing Michal Firestone, Natalia Dushkina kneeling, behind her standing Petr Kroupa, Josef Stulc,
Ju Ju kneeling, behind her standing Irmela Spelsberg, behind her half hidden Bruno Maldoner, Tamas Fejerdy,
Christian Schneider, Michael Petzet, Mrs. Machat, Zbigniew Kobylinski, Giora Solar, Christoph Machat, Mrs.
Solar, Tina Wik, Mrs. Szmygin, Boguslaw Szmygin, Andrzej Tomaszewski (photo: Franz Neuwirth 2008).
Paolo Del Bianco
Presidente della Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco
Preface of the Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco
La Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco, membro istituzionale ICOMOS ISC Theory
and Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration, ha il piacere di consegnare ai lettori
il secondo volume della collana dedicata alla teoria della conservazione e del restauro.
Il primo volume, Values and Criteria in Heritage Conservation, pubblicato nel
2008 e presentato alla comunità internazionale dei conservatori alla XX Assemblea
generale dell’ICOMOS in Quebec, contiene gli atti del Convegno internazionale
del Comitato ICOMOS ISC Theory, promosso dalla nostra Fondazione insieme a
ICOMOS ed ICCROM nel marzo 2007 a Firenze.
Il volume attuale, Conservation and Preservation. Interactions between Theory and
Practice, contiene gli atti del Convegno del Comitato ICOMOS ISC Theory, organizzato dal Comitato nazionale ICOMOS Austriaco a Vienna nell’aprile 2008, nel
centocinquantesimo anniversario della nascita di Alois Riegl.
Il convegno è stato dedicato alla memoria di questo grande fondatore della base
teorica del restauro moderno.
Abbiamo anche il piacere di comunicare che il terzo volume della collana è in corso
di stampa ed è relativo agli atti del Convegno The Image of Heritage: Changing Perception – Permanent Responsibilities promosso dalla nostra Fondazione a Firenze nel
marzo 2009, con la collaborazione di ICOMOS e ICCROM.
Facendosi carico della preparazione e della pubblicazione degli atti scientifici dei
successivi convegni internazionali del Comitato ICOMOS ISC Theory, la nostra
Fondazione vuole trasmettere alla comunità internazionale dei conservatori i recenti
contributi sulla teoria e sulla filosofia del restauro e contribuire così alla migliore tutela
del nostro comune patrimonio culturale. Scripta manent.
Paolo Del Bianco
Presidente della Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco
Preface of the Foundation Romualdo Del Bianco
The Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco, an institutional member of ICOMOS ISC
Theory and Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration, is pleased to present the
second volume of a collection of papers devoted to the theory of conservation and
restoration.
The first volume, Values and Criteria in Heritage Conservation, published in 2008
and presented to the international community of conservators at the 20th ICOMOS
General Assembly in Quebec, contained the proceedings of the ICOMOS ISC
Theory International Conference, promoted by our Foundation in conjunction
with ICOMOS and ICCROM in Florence in March 2007.
The present volume, Conservation and Preservation. Interactions between Theory and
Practice, contains the proceedings of the ICOMOS ISC Theory conference, organized by the ICOMOS Austria National Committee in Vienna in April 2008 to mark
the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alois Riegl. The conference was dedicated to the
memory of this great founder of the theoretical basis of modern restoration.
We also are happy to announce that the third volume of the collection, the proceedings of the conference entitled The Image of Heritage: Changing Perception Permanent Responsibilities, held in Florence in March 2009 in conjunction with
ICCROM and ICOMOS, is also due to be published in the near future.
In taking charge of the publication of the ICOMOS ISC Theory's annual international conference proceedings, our Foundation’s aim is to ensure that the international community of conservators has access to the most recent scholarship in the
field of the theory and philosophy of restoration, thus helping to improve the protection of our shared cultural heritage. Scripta manent.