A műemlékek sokszínűsége (A 28. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1998 Eger, 1998)

Előadások / Presentations - ROMÁN András: Historic towns as monuments

ANDRÁS ROMÁN HISTORIC TOWNS AS MONUMENTS The history of monument protection is also the history of the widening scope of monuments considered worthy of protection. And as it is usual with any type of development, it is an ever accelerating trend. While in the 19th century there was hardly any departure from the initial concept of historic monuments virtually restricted to ruins, fortifications, cathedrals and castles, and indeed only to the most valuable among these, in the 20th century, the approach changed rapidly. Citizens' dwelling houses were recognised as monuments between the two world wars, and then, as of the 50s, vernacular monuments were as well. The definition contained in the 1964 Venice Charter also expresses that not only the cream of world architecture may be classified as historic: „(the concept of an historic monument) applies not only to great works of art but also to more modest works of the past which have acquired cultural significance with the passing of time." The Venice Charter boosted this trend. It recognised a new category of monuments, namely 'sites of monuments' as such by providing that „The sites of monuments must be the object of special care in order to safeguard their integrity and ensure that they are cleared and presented in a seemly manner." With its new concept of historic monuments, it paves the way for additional categories of monuments. The protection of the industrial heritage (including the assets of large-scale farming, transport and mining) is acknowledged as of the 70s, the safeguarding of modern assets starts in the 80s, and marks the end of the previously prevailing concept under which a long time had to elapse before any building was recognised as historic. Round this time, it becomes generally accepted that any a historic monument of any category may represent, along with historical values in the strict sense of the word, an architectural heritage valuable for its expression of the identity of a more or less extended human community, and therefore worthy of being protected. And then, the 1985 Granada Convention of the Council of Europe defines a new category of historic monuments at the borderline between the built and the natural environment, that of cultural landscapes. And it is still not over. In 1987 in Washington, the International Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Urban Areas is adopted, which suggests, though does not say explicitly, that historic towns themselves, in their integrity are historic monuments. The Charter also provides that „All urban communities, whether they have developed gradually over time or have been created deliberately, are an expression of the diversity of societies throughout history" which implies that the attribute 'historic' may be omitted and just any town or urban area may be looked upon as a historic monument. Let us now see how far this, still ambitiously sounding, definition has got. In order to do so, let us come back to history. Cathedral-orientated conservation practice in the last century did enormous damage to historic towns through large-scale demolition campaigns. Not so much by stripping cathedrals, considered as the main assets in towns, of their natural context (in Paris, in Ulm and even in the case of Mathias church in Buda, even though here it was carried out by Frigyes Schulek, a great artist whose work compensated for the damage done) but by making incisions at any spot where it was justified by the conservation concept, without any respect for the urban tissue and the valuable stock of old buildings. Baron Haussmann was merciless about