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

Előadások - The phylosophy of monument restoration Debate – moderator: András ROMÁN

Secondly, for this to be effective I think we have to speak about an educated public. We have to speak not just about turning to the public outside these windows and saying what do you think. We have to speak about a process in which public from a young age are brought into this heritage discussion. My 6-year-old son can tell me everything about the environmental protection movement, he can tell me all the principles of the Green movement in the world. He tells me, I'm a polluter'. He has the ideas very clearly established from an early age. He can't do that for cultural heritage. And I think it's a failure of our education system that we have not transmitted these important ideas into the school system so that public in future can be better informed and better educated. The last point that I would make is this. I don't think we have any choice any more except to explore how to do this because in most countries governments are giving less and less money to cultural heritage. And if restoration is going to happen, if conservation is going to happen, it's going to happen with the symphaty of the owners and with the symphaty of the public. We will depend on that symphaty to make conservation happen. So in some ways it's a duty to ask how we can involve the public in a meaningful way in a real way. In this dialogue, in this discussion which has been the central part of our professional life for so long. Agnes Kristóf We often feel that we restore for specialists or we restored in the past. It refers to the understanding as well. People often do not understand the restoration. There was a case when we demonstrated everything and it was not clear what we wanted to demonstrate. In fact, we would have needed a script for everybody to understand what they could see. It is true for the methodology of restoration and also for what the others can see in it. Herb Stovel says that we have to start the education of cultural heritage in childhood. A next generation has to grow up for this. My son is attending an 8-year grammar school where he has been studying Latin and Latin culture since he was ten years old. So the approach of the cultural heritage is established. In this sense older people cannot be educated. But it is very important what they can see in the monuments. In a very interesting case I dealt with a castle. I could see that the majority of the specialists wanted to restore another period of the castle as opposed to those who lived around it. It brings up a question of authenticity. It showed the importance of the feelings and emotions of those who live around the monuments. And it is very important if we want people to accept restoration and spend on it. Therefore it is true that we restore the monuments for those who live around them. János Sedlmayr Because of my age I know that building situated in Uri Street which has been repaired for the second time now. The problem could be that be excavated medieval parts were in an exaggerated quantity and in an ununderstable way. It was always apostrophised as the veterinarian horse on which all illnesses can be seen at the same time. The young has to understand the reason. I know the story from first-hand. The building was excavated by Csemegi József who is the best expert of the Hungarian middle-ages. No wonder that he saw a peciality in every part of it. And seeing the whole monument he recognized that it can perfectly apostrophize Buda, the medieval quarter of the capital. He wanted to show this and hewanted to demonstrate how many limes it was rebuilt and how it changed during the centuries. It was a monument protectionalist approach in the 1950's. This work was done at that time. We most not compare it to the present restoration. Nowadays these kind of efforts do not exist. But I could ot accept that only one result of the researches is shown if there are more. It would lead to the simplification of the building as it would have only one period. The restorer has to find the measure how to