CONSERVATION AND MEMORY

Abstract

Rather than to be isolated, a monument is related to all the system of its surrounding. And this relation connects it beyond the past but also to the future witnesses of the past, forwarding a message from the past across the present to the future. Puristic restoration of a segment of its existence omitting the others is not feasible. Already in 1931 at the Athens Conference it was stated that historical and artistic works of the past should be respected, and also in 1964, §11 of the Charta of Venice specified that 'uniform style' is not aimed at in restoring. A monument authentically transmits the message of the past if it is conserved in the historical continuity of its development.