Műemlék-helyreállítások tegnap, ma, holnap (A 27. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1997 Eger, 1997)

Előadások - Herb STOVEL: The interpretation of authenticity in Japan

outside, the conservation has achieved its goal. The art of act is still present, still speaks. But inside the structure the conservation was achieved at a price. There is nothing inside the building, there is no iconostasis, no interiour spaces, there is only a steel frame which is used to hold the wooden elements in place. This approach is debated in Russia and outside Russia, but at least we must acknowledge that we did not have the technical means, capacity to hold on to this art of act entirely. We had to sacrifize something to keep the structure and the form in place. If we go today to the Erechteion in Athens and look at the Cariatides and we recognize that these are in fact copies. We say: „well, what is the authenticity in this? I have not come to Athens to see copies." But if you recognize, that in a polluted atmosphere and Athens certainly has a polluted atmosphere, the alternative may be this, then the authenticity choice is made much more clear. Throughout the 19th century and the 20th century there has been a back-and-force, a primary focus in the debate between the interest in the material and the interest in the form. At a certain point the question of context has become of greater interest. One of the most important vernacular sights in Finnland. A decision has been made to preserve every molecule of wood and each building is an art of act. In other words to keep away the sun,to keep away the rain. The future of this farm, in efforts like this as if it were an object an art of act. We can say, yes, the molecules of wood will survive, but what about the meaning of this farm, the life, spirit of this farm? It is a question of context. We can meet this question of contest may have obvious examples from anywhere. The example of context, is a reconstructed chapel of the 19th century in wood, in Canada XX is has been reconstructed inside a concrete building being just an object in a completely modern structure. One XX ask, has this art of act lost some of itsmeaning in this new, modern context? To move on with the concern for other attributes, tradition, function. If we look at vernacular buildings, settlements, we have to ask, how do we maintain the process which gives these structures life. It is clear, that if you focus entirely on the object as material or design, somehow you miss the point, when you deal with the vernacular settlement. There must be an effort for conservation to focus on the process which gives birth, too, these farms and materials and in some way keep the process alive. Without this the vernacular passes into museum villages and ends its life. It has interest, but its life is finished. The same is true when we look at hsitoric cities, settlements. A city, like Catmandu in Nepal which is an extraordinary collection of monuments and urban fabric going back 600 years. It is very much now under threat from force which have invaded the traditional dynamic Catmandu is on the World Heritage List. Before the recent development pressures, population of the Catmandu valley which was an agricultural valley supplied the revenue which maintained all the temples in the city. The population pressure have allowed every part of the agricultural valley to be built over and as a result there is no revenue to maintain the temples. And this delicate equilibrium in the process of change has been lost the result. The result for conservation in the past was the natural cycle of maintenance no conservation money was necessary to look after the temples. Now every temple is looking for money from the government of UNESCO or from external sources to achieve its restoration. Speaking about industrial monuments we can ask, what is important in the industrial heritage, is it the building or is it in some way the industrial processes that give meaning to these sights? But can extend finally our conception to cultural landscapes where again the important is not the material, the precise forms, but the process of land use, of land management which has created the qualities that we seek to conserve. More generally, the question is how we can maintain the simple agricultural practices to define the land-