ARCH- 4523

Architectural Conservation
Conservation Basics

Joarder Hafiz Ullah

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Architecture, DUET, Gazipur.
ARCH-4523 : Architectural Conservation
2 Credits | 2 Hours/Week

Part-A: Architectural & Urban Conservation; Its meaning, principles and

scope; History and issues of conservation; Preservation, restoration,
renovation, reconstruction, adaptation, reuse, redevelopment, renewal etc at
building and urban scale. Valuation and diagnosis.

Part-B: Conservation laws and practices, issues and context.

Conservation policy, ethics, regulations, technology and finance. Local
and International case study and good practices.
CONSERVATION is all the processes of looking after a
place so as to retain its cultural significance.

It includes maintenance and according to circumstances

may include preservation, restoration, reconstruction
and adaption and will be commonly a combination of
more than one of these.
Source: Australia ICOMOS. The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for
Places of Cultural Significance. Burwood: Australia International Council of
Monuments and Sites. 1999.
 Methods of building conservation
Preservation Maintenance Restoration

Reconstruction Adaptation

Conservation is the action which embraces all acts that prolong the life of
cultural and natural heritage
Man Made Heritage:
1. Archaeological (Sub structure)
2. Architectural ( Super structure)
3. Movables ( Painting, sculpture etc.)

Heritage:
Tangible Heritage Historic Precincts of Cities:
Culturally significant modern buildings and towns

Intangible Heritage Extant culture of traditional buildings, skills and

knowledge
Rites and Ritual
Social life and Life style of the inhabitants
Why ?
•For the protection of unprotected living heritage: conserving the traditional
buildings and ways of building.
•For the survival of country's sense of place, its identity and its very character
in a globalizing environment.
•Not to conserve the past but also define the future

Values in Conservation:
Conservation must preserve and if possible enhance the messages and
values of cultural property.

Values help to systematically identify conservation:

I. To set overall priorities in deciding proposed interventions.
II. To establish the extent and nature of the individual treatment.
III. Values assigned to cultural properties come under three major
categories:
•Emotional Value
•Cultural Value
•Use Value
Values in Conservation
Emotional Values:
Wonder
Identity
Continuity
Spiritual and symbolic

Cultural Values:
Documentary
Historic
Archaeological, Age and Scarcity
Aesthetic and symbolic
Architectural
Townscape, landscape and Ecological
Technological and Scientific

Use Values:
Functional
Economical
Social
Political and Ethnic
 Background of Architectural Conservation:
•Conservation activity is nearly as old as the building activity themselves and
have existed as long as cities have existed.
•In Europe conservation dates from 16th century when the humanists back
to Greek and Roman legacies for inspiration and detection.
•In Europe conservation was institutionalized by the enactment of ‘Ancient
Monument Act’ 1882
•Preservation of particular buildings began in 1932
•The concept and practice of preservation and conservation started in 1967.
• The unprecedented and indiscriminant destruction and world wars
intensified the movement of conservation.
•UNESCO has been instrumental in propagating the notion of the universal
responsibility for conservation with the establishment of World Heritage
Council in 1972-73

http://mestrado-reabilitacao.fa.utl.pt/disciplinas/jaguiar/jukkajokilehto1986historyofconservation.pdf
Tools for Conservation:

Today There are several international organizations viz. ICCROM and ICOMOS dedicated
to the cause of conservation.
ICOMOS (International Council on Monument and Sites) has pioneered the way since
Athens Charter 1931.

Charters:
The Athens Charter 1931
International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of
Monuments and Sites (Venice Charter 1964)
Historic Gardens (Florence Charter 1981)
Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Urban Areas (Washington Charter
1987)
Charter for the Protection and Management of the Archaeological
Heritage ( Lausanne Chartter 1990 )
Charter on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage (1996)
International Cultural Tourism Charter (1999)
Charter on the Built Vernacular Heritage (1999)
Principles for the Preservation of Historic Timber Structures (1999)
Etc.
www.icomos.org
(ICOMOS)
International Council on Monuments and Sites
is a professional association that works for the conservation and
protection of cultural heritage places around the world. Now headquartered
in Paris, ICOMOS was founded in 1965 in Warsaw as a result of
the Venice Charter of 1964, and offers advice to UNESCO on World
Heritage Sites.
From the emergence of the concept of World Heritage to the creation of
ICOMOS

History:
The Athens Conference (1931) on restoration of historic buildings was organised
by the International Museums Office, and the Athens Charter, drafted by Le
Corbusier at the fourth Assembly of the International congresses on Modern
Architecture (1933) was published anonymously in Paris in 1941 both represent a
major step in the evolution of ideas because they reflect a growing consciousness
among specialists all over the world, and introduced for the first time in history the
concept of international heritage.
What
ICOMOS works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places. It is
the only global non-government organisation of this kind, which is dedicated to
promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the
conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage. Its work is based on
the principles enshrined in the 1964 International Charter on the Conservation and
Restoration of Monuments and Sites (the Venice Charter).

Who
ICOMOS is a network of experts that benefits from the interdisciplinary exchange
of its members, among which are architects, historians, archaeologists, art
historians, geographers, anthropologists, engineers and town planners.

Why
The members of ICOMOS contribute to improving the preservation of heritage, the
standards and the techniques for each type of cultural heritage property :
buildings, historic cities, cultural landscapes and archaeological sites.
 www.iccrom.org

The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of
Cultural Property (ICCROM) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the
preservation of cultural heritage worldwide through training, information, research,
cooperation and advocacy programmes. It aims to enhance the field of conservation-
restoration and raise awareness to the importance and fragility of cultural heritage.

The creation of the Centre took place as a result of a proposal at the UNESCO General
Conference held in New Delhi, in 1956. Three years later, the Centre was established
in Rome, Italy, where its headquarters remain to this day.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ICCROM's mission is fulfilled through five areas of activity:

training, information, research, cooperation and advocacy.

Motto: conserving culture, promoting diversity

ICOMOS BAGLADESH
re-established in 2014
http://icomosbd.org/

Thank You