1. INTRODUCTION 1.1
Today’s challenges in the heritage conservation field
Together with overall society’s changes, the way heritage is perceived and valued evolves as well.
The Nara document on authenticity Nara, 1994 enlarged the heritage authenticity concept to respond at the international
level to the aspirations of various cultures. Consequently it also allowed each of those culture to integrate more diverse
aspects of heritage into their way of valuing it Van Balen, 2008. It helped -mostly in our Western societies- to
appreciate heritage values beyond the physical elements only. While in the guiding documents in the middle of the XX°C, as
the Venice charter, started from the physical objects as a starting point of concern, t
oday’s approach is increasingly centred around heritage values. Such changes of perspectives
and valuing therefor implies other ways of communication thus other ways to document the multiple layered heritage values.
In his dissertation on the use of three-dimensional techniques of documentation and dissemination in studying built heritage,
Mario Santana started with identifying the link between documentation and authenticity Santana, 2003.
Studies that aim at protecting, promoting, or conserving a monument are based on the identification and evaluation of the
heritage values inherent to it, i.e. understanding the authenticity of it and considering it as a layered concept of
values Van Balen, 2003. Documentation of this information is therefore important, and
Santana’s study demonstrated that the Nara Grid could be used as a “container” of that information. The result is that the
actual authenticity value can be documented considering the different layers, based on the state of the fabric, and that
simulations could be done considering modifications that could affect the aging process and the natural development of the
object in its setting. Van Balen, 2008
1.2 Preventive conservation
The preservation of heritage and its acknowledged values aims at its safeguarding and its transfer in a sustainable way to next
generations. This requires a multifaceted approach, tapping into different strategies and tools that contribute to that goal.
These can be
“curative” or “preventive”, as argued in previous publications, using the analogy with medicine, they can be
compared with “Curative medical Care” versus “Public Health” Van Balen, 2015.
The object oriented heritage preservation strategies practiced in the past as expressed in the Venice Charter was very much
oriented towards a curative conservation practice.
The attention for prevention and maintenance in the field of conservation of monuments and sites is not recent although it is
gaining attention. The Charter of Athens 1931, article 4 of the Venice Charter 1964, the recommendations from the
Council of Europe Council of Europe, 1981 on Maintenance, preventive actions and crafts 1980s but also the Burra charter
refer to the role of maintenance for heritage and society Cebron, 2008. A few common denominators can be found in
the arguments given in these documents: preventive conservation helps conserving authenticity as it avoids or
minimize the increase of damage thanks to early maintenance and
–if necessary- some interventions. From this it is usually deduced that preventive conservation is cost effective. The use
of buildings and the proper integration in society enhance the chances
for good
maintenance. Experiences
with monumentenwacht in The Netherlands and in Flanders support
the arguments that a preventive conservation approach empowers society at large to take care of its heritage by
maintaining it. It is also found that it widens the responsibility for preservation to a larger fraction of society than traditional
conservation practices do Van Balen, 2015.
A state of the art of the understanding and implementation of preventive conservation of the built heritage has been shared in
previously Van Balen 2013.
1.3 Changing needs, changing documentation tools
The Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe report CHCfE, 2015 stresses the need for an integrated approach in which the
social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts of heritage are fundamentally intertwined. It states that past and
current assessment of cultural heritage investments based on the so-called downstream do not show the full potential of
cultural heritage. In a truly integrated approach towards heritage, the benefits of heritage can be maximised. The report
CHCfE, 2015 proposes an upstream approach to cultural heritage, whereby traditional economic investment schemes are
enhanced with resources from other sectors. This implies introducing non-heritage investment of resources to achieve in
parallel non-heritage goals e.g. social cohesion or reducing unemployment as well as the safeguarding of cultural heritage
assets. Taking full potential of the upstream approach,
combined with a closer integration of heritage’s social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts implies that
cultural heritage
becomes a
source for
sustainable development. The report CHCfE, 2015 also shows that the
more the output is diversified over different pillars of sustainable development, the more sustainable the resulting
development will be.
Another important challenge debated recently e.g. in the margin of the last World Heritage Committee also
demonstrates that heritage communities are facing ever evolving challenges from novel threats. It deals with defining
how to respond to the deliberate destruction of World Heritage. This debate reveals the need for a better
understanding of the role of heritage for society’s past traumatic development and a preventive attitude to these
new? types of reality.
1.4 Structure
The following chapters will further develop the documentation challenges that preventive conservation
entails in today’s perspective of heritage preservation after recalling some of the
essential features of the Preventive Conservation approach.
2. THE “DNA” OF PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION
