Origins and Influence of the Nara Document on Authenticity

Author(s): Herb Stovel

Source: APT Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 2/3 (2008), pp. 9-17
Published by: Association for Preservation Technology International (APT)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25433946 .
Accessed: 15/10/2014 04:19

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to APT Bulletin.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Origins and Influence of the Nara Document on
Authenticity
HERB STOVEL

This paper examines the origins and Assessing the Impact of the Nara The Nara Document on Authenticity
on Document marked a watershed moment in modern
influence of the Nara Document
(Nara, Japan, 1994) on This paper looks briefly and selectively history. Agreed to by those
conservation
Authenticity
at how the of was participating in the Nara meeting in
conservation attitudes and concept authenticity
treated in the three decades prior to the 1994, itwas the first effort in the 30
approaches in the particular context years since the Venice Charter to at
Nara It then looks at the influ
meeting.
to put in place a set of interna
of the World Heritage Committee's ence of the Nara Document review
tempt
by
tionally applicable conservation princi
operations and beyond, into the ing the results of several key regional
ples. Yet while reflecting an important
workaday world of conservation. follow-up meetings that applied the international the Nara Docu
consensus,
themes of Nara in a particular regional ment also marked the final stage of the
context (San Antonio for the Americas,
move from belief in universal interna
Great Zimbabwe for Africa, and Riga
tional absolutes, first introduced by the
for Eastern The paper con
Europe).
Venice Charter, toward acceptance of
cludes by looking at a number of the
conservation as
judgments necessarily
challenges that remain before theWorld relative and contextual. Both of these
Heritage Committee and the larger
conservation field in attempting to perceived gains have been recognized
use of the con primarily in hindsight, however.
strengthen authenticity
The originators of the Nara meeting
cept in meaningful ways in conservation
had more prosaic benefits inmind,
practice.
however. They wished simply to extend
the range of attributes through which
authenticity might be recognized in
order to accommodate within it main
stream Japanese conservation practices
?
namely the periodic dismantling,
repair, and of wooden tem
reassembly
?
so that Japan would feel more
ples
comfortable about submitting World
Heritage nominations for international
review (Figs. 1 and 2).1 This aim was
accomplished by returning to a frame
work more closely in tune with the
framework from which theWorld Her
itage test of authenticity had originally
emerged (including the integrity require
ment, which had underlain analysis of
historic properties for inclusion on the
National Register of Historic Places in
the United States) and its inclusion of
or attributes.2
dynamic, process-based,
While the Nara meeting did produce a
more broadly drawn technical frame
Fig. 1. One of the sources of the Nara meeting was the feeling of Japanese conservation profession work for authenticity analysis, the Nara
als that their approaches to conservation were misunderstood. The example most cited was the false
Document at a more level also
profound
contention inmany Western publications that the Japanese ritually rebuilt replicas of their temples on
sites every twenty
? a practice in fact limited inmodern times to one Shinto shrine,
created the conceptual conditions to
adjacent years
the Ise Shrine, seen here. Photograph ? Jingu-shicho. legitimize Japanese (and many other

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 10 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 39:2-3, 2008

Authenticity can be easily diagnosed, when each

of its bearers will be examined independently of
each other. It is different, when all the compo
nents are studied simultaneously. This pattern
provides for partial loss of authenticity in each
of them (e.g., material authenticity is intact, but
the function has changed, there is a loss of the
original form, etc.). The examination has a
relative character and can add to the dissonance
of the whole. Here it is necessary to find the
threshold before which the monument authentic
ity is not yet lost and can be perceived as it is.7
The March 2003 Advisory Bodies'
version of Annex 4 of the Operational
Guidelines confirmed this view by
suggesting that
Authenticity is not an absolute qualifier. It is
meaningless to state that such and such a prop
erty is "undeniably authentic." Authenticity is a
relative concept and must always be used in
relation to the ability of particular attributes to
express clearly the nature of key recognized
values.8

The third scientific clarification in

volved challenging the idea that authen
Fig. 2. In fearing that World Heritage nominations would be judged within Eurocentric frameworks,
the Japanese were also concerned that existing widespread conservation practices
?
such as the ticity had to be present in all attribute
and reassembly of significant structures ? would also areas (that is, in relation to those all
top-to-bottom periodic dismantling religious
not be understood by Western evaluators. Photograph by the author, 1993, ? ICCROM. attributes or carry
possible expressing
ing defined heritage values relevant to
World Heritage analysis ?
culturally imbedded) conservation prac prepared by the Advisory Bodies to the form, design,
tices by recognizing that inMarch for a site to be considered
World Heritage Committee setting, etc.)

all judgments about values attributed to cultural 2003 stated the following: authentic. Early discussion of the four
properties as well as the credibility of related is not a value itself. Properties do
authenticities of theWorld Heritage test
Authenticity ?
information sources may differ from culture to not merit inscription on the World Heritage of
List authenticity design, material,
culture, and even within the same culture. It is
simply because they are greatly authentic; rather, setting, and workmanship, themselves
thus not possible to base judgements of values inscribed properties must demonstrate first their
and authenticity within fixed criteria. On the claim to "outstanding universal value," and then
adapted from the integrity requirements
contrary, the respect due to all cultures requires demonstrate that the attributes carrying related
for nominating sites to the National
that heritage properties must be considered and values are "authentic," that is, genuine, real, Register of Historic Places maintained
judged within the cultural contexts to which ?
truthful, credible.5 by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior
they belong.3
The distinction being made here is that acknowledged that these qualities were
The Nara discussions also laid to rest a to be a
choices can be understood treated "as composite."9 While
authenticity
number of long-standing technical
as reflective of the values of those doing ICOMOS Secretary General Dr. Ernest
delusions that had limited the possibil
the choosing but do not themselves Allan Connally argued for this interpre
ity to use authenticity in practical ways constitute values. tation in dealing with World Heritage
heritage
to guide decision making.
The second scientific clarification sites when the first version of the test of
The first of these scientific delusions
involved refuting the contention that authenticity was defined in 1977, cur
to be corrected was the idea that authen
was a value in its own
authenticity could be understood as an rent practice in nominating sites to the
ticity right, National
absolute. Insistence on an absolute Register of Historic Places
though some of those present during the
Nara
approach is still present in the current argues the contrary, namely that
meeting made this argument. National Register of Historic Places to retain historic integrity a property will always
Natalia Dushkina of ICOMOS Russia,
practice for evaluating integrity: "His possess several, and usually most, of the aspects.
for example, suggested that the material The retention of specific aspects of integrity is
toric properties either retain integrity
and the non paramount for a property to convey its signifi
(form, setting, techniques)
(that is, convey their significance) or cance. Determining which of these aspects are
material (function, use, tradition, spirit)
they do not."6 While this approach may most important to a particular property requires
"used to be the bearers of authenticity in and when the property is
have been present in the original Ameri knowing why, where,
a monument" and that transmit
"they can concept and subsequently grafted significant.10
ted authenticity to us and thus are rela The fourth scientific clarification fo
onto World Heritage practice, it is now
tive to it" and that "authentic
therefore cused on improving understanding of
is a value
accepted inWorld Heritage circles that
ity category of culture."4 the importance of authenticity. Never
is very much con
authenticity analysis
Annex 4 of the version of the Opera mentioned in early conservation de
cerned with relative measurement.
tional Guidelines for the Implementation
Natalia Dushkina illustrated this in bates, a focus on "why" has helped give
of theWorld Heritage Convention
her paper for Nara: precision to the articulation of the

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ORIGINS AND INFLUENCE OF THE NARA DOCUMENT ON AUTHENTICITY 11

"how." While the Venice Charter, with the meeting was to do for China what tion actions and approaches would not

out accompanying explanation, merely Nara had done for Japan.13 result in efforts to cloak arbitrary or ad
suggests that monuments should be But for all of these meetings, the hoc decisions within the all-forgiving
context.
preserved "in the full richness of their Nara Document seems to have fallen mantle of cultural Many post

authenticity,"11 the Nara Document short of the aspirations of many of its Nara commentators have complained
devotes articles 4, 9 and 10 to the framers. While the many subsequent that the Nara Document has given a
"why." meetings helped root treatment of au license to unscrupulous practitioners
to

thenticity in the local cultural contexts do what they wish without the need to
4. In a world that is increasingly subject to the
forces of globalization and homogenization, and called for in the Nara Document, for the account for or justify their actions in
in a world inwhich the search for cultural most have not moved the that local cultural context. This problem
part they
identity is sometimes pursued through aggressive could have been avoided by an article
nationalism and the suppression of the cultures authenticity discourse down the path
of minorities, the essential contribution made by toward practical application or beyond within the Nara Document which might
understandings in place before Nara,
the consideration of authenticity in conservation have read
is to clarify and illuminate the collective
practice nor have they helped address the two The acceptance of the need to judge conserva
memory of humanity.
its local cultural context does
significant issues skirted by Nara.14 tion activity within
9. Conservation of cultural heritage in all its not remove from conservation project propo
This need for a practical approach to
forms and historical periods is rooted in the nents the need to ensure their proposals respect
values attributed to the heritage. Our ability to authenticity had been signaled well the heritage values around which local consensus
understand these values depends, in part, on the before Nara in Jukka Jokilehto's chapter has been developed, the information sources
sources about these associated with these, and locally recognized
degree to which information "Treatments and Authenticity" in Man
values may be understood as credible or truthful. processes of heritage transformation.
and understanding of these sources
agement Guidelines for World Cultural
Knowledge
Here demonstrates The second major issue skirted dur
of information, in relation to original and sub Heritage.15 Jokilehto
was a definition
sequent characteristics of the cultural heritage, conceptually how the evidence of the ing Nara of authentic

and their meaning, is a requisite basis for assess four authenticities present in the original ity. Given the reticence of Raymond
ing all aspects of authenticity. test of
?
work Lemaire (primary author of the Venice
authenticity materials,
? Charter and later to be co-author of the
10. Authenticity, considered in this way and manship, design, and setting helps
affirmed in the Charter of Venice, appears as the define the aim of treatment and its Nara Document) to pursue a definition,
essential qualifying factor concerning values.
the framers of the Nara Document
The understanding of authenticity plays a
implementation. The challenge of defin
followed the time-honored World Her
fundamental role in all scientific studies of the ing conceptually the possible forms of
cultural heritage, in conservation and restoration evidence offered by various attributes itage Convention tradition of treating
as well as within the inscription as outstanding
planning, offers a useful analytical tool for making important concepts, such
procedures used for theWorld Heritage Conven
clear authenticity judgments and antici universal value, without defining them.
tion and other cultural heritage inventories.12
the proofs of men However, even without a definition, the
pates authenticity
Ultimately perhaps the most impor tioned in the Declaration of San Anto annual need for States' Parties to show
tant benefit of the Nara discussions was
nio. However, the illustrations used that theirWorld Heritage nominations
the impetus given to dozens of similar by
meet test has ex
discussions in countries and
Jokliehto are uneven and not fully devel the of
authenticity
regions tended of the
oped. For example, while for materials, acceptance concept's
around the world and the optimism that to countries
evidence is usefully defined to include relevance and cultures that
these discussions would carry the techni
attributes of "original building material, inNara complained that they did not
cal focuses of the Nara discussion to
historical stratigraphy, marks made by have a word for authenticity, and slowly,
new heights in subsequent years. Re
a working definition has found its place.
impact of significant phases in history,
gional meetings were held inAfrica, and the process of aging (patina of That definition concerns the quality of
Europe, the Americas, and in many
age)," for workmanship, evidence is communication of defined heritage
countries around the world, including at
understood to include uniquely "sub values through the significant attributes
least three in my country, Canada. By
stance and signs of original building carrying these values. This definition,
my count more than 50 national and
which eluded the Nara wordsmiths, has
semi technology and techniques," which
regional authenticity workshops, seems found its way into various documents
to overlook the material evidence
nars, and colloquia have been held since and papers in use in theWorld Heritage
of the hand of the original or later
1994. Authenticity has become the ?
craftsman a focus of context, presence as a part of
surely key any including
principal metaphor of engagement for effort to retain the full testimony of the draft Operational Guidelines in
conservation debates for close to a
decade and a half now, and this interest craftsmanship. Nevertheless, this chap development in late 2003-early 2004,
terwas a major step forward in the field and confirms the sense of the American
continues; the government of China held
a major expert meeting in Beijing in
at the time by suggesting how authentic integrity from which theWorld Heritage
to review ity could be measured in tangible ways, concept of authenticity was born in
May 2007 conservation prac
as an aid to conservation decision mak 1976: the ability of a property to convey
tices at some of theWorld Heritage sites
its significance.16
in Beijing. Guo Zhan, current Vice ing.
One of the two major issues skirted
President of ICOMOS for China, re
in the Nara Document was how to
cently stated that his goal in organizing ensure con
that acceptance of cultural
text as essential in assessing conserva

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 12 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 39:2-3, 2008

Pre-Nara: Considering Authenticity

from 1964 to 1993

To more fully appreciate the changes in

thinking and practice that have resulted
from the Nara Document, it is useful to
understand what was meant
by authen
ticity when the Venice Charter was
written in the 1960s and to trace
changes in its use since then. As many
commentators have noted, authenticity
was used in the preamble to the Venice
Charter without qualification because,
in the European-expert world on whose
shared precepts the charter was built,
authenticity was understood by all in
the same way.
Imbued with a message from the past, the
historic monuments of generations of people
remain to the present day as living witnesses of
their age-old traditions. People are becoming
more and more conscious of the unity of human
values and regard ancient monuments as a
common heritage. The common responsibility to
safeguard them for future generations is recog
Fig. 3. Urnes Stave Church, a Norwegian church Fig. 4. The authenticity of the operating locks on
nized. It is our duty to hand them on in the full
inscribed on the World Heritage List, illustrates the Rideau Canal, a historic Canadian canal
richness of their authenticity.17
the many interrelated aspects of authenticity inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2007,
The first known appearance of integrity cited by Stefan Tschudi-Madsen in architec rests on the retention of original design forms
in formal systems for preservation in turally important buildings: surface, material, rather than original wooden material, now
form, structure, and function. Photograph by decayed and replaced many times. Photograph
the United States occurs in the 1953
Jukka Jokilehto, 1995, ? ICCROM. by the author.
National Park Service Administrative
Manual, where integrity is described as
those with purity of original design or of the discussions inNara. Surface,
"a composite quality connoting original
form." While Connally was dubious of described as the inevitably changing skin
workmanship, original location, and
intent (his notes state "the old polemic of a building, pits the practical necessity
intangible elements of feeling and asso -
con put to rest did not want to revive it"), of scraping and renewing paint layers
ciation."18 This made-in-the-USA
Lemaire prevailed, and American in and replacing worn building compo
cept of integrity traveled to Europe in
tegrity became World Heritage authen nents (e.g., roof tiles) with the effort to
the valises of then-ICOMOS Secretary
General Ernest Allan Connally and his ticity. Given the American definition of maintain "age value, the proof of au

assistant and full-time in integrity (the ability of a property to thenticity" (Fig. 3).20 Tschudi-Madsen
representative
convey its significance), the change of suggests that there is a conflict between
Paris, Ann Webster Smith, for the first
has not caused any the aesthetic demands of material structure and
vocabulary generally
meetings of fledgling World Heritage
Committee experts in 1976 and 1977. problems in application of the concept surface on the one hand, and the need for
on the other....a conflict between an
in theWorld Heritage context. authenticity
There the concept was adopted by the intentional evaluation
- an
evaluation condi
The approach adopted forWorld intention of the monument
World Heritage Committee but tioned by the original
-
renamed thanks to Ray Heritage had become the norm in Eu and an historic evaluation based upon the
authenticity', as a source of information - a
mond Lemaire's insistence on rope by the following decade. Stefan document docu
extending ment. It is very difficult to take a stand for, or
Tschudi-Madsen's paper "Principles in
authenticity beyond concern for the against, in such a conflict; one appeals to senti
Practice," presented at the 1984 APT the other to knowledge.21
original, which in essence protected the ment,
conference in Toronto, is representative
existing conceptual frameworks of the In speaking of function, he notes that
of the best of evolving European think
European conservation world. The "the principle of authenticity often gives
result was aWorld Heritage test of ing in the mid-1980s. His paper explores to practical solutions because it
way
five different areas of mate
authenticity, which was applied to four
authenticity: a
becomes question of, to be or not to
rial, structure, surface, architectural
related physical attributes: design, be, for the monument."22 Tschudi
form, and function.19 Material, struc
material, setting, and workmanship. Madsen's about these
speculations
ture, and form recall the earlier four
During theWorld Heritage preparatory conflicts reveal the tension between
expert meeting of March 1977 in Paris, tangible authenticities ofWorld Her conventional
prevailing assumptions
itage, but Tschudi-Madsen also includes
Connally noted that Lemaire proposed that authenticity resided in survival of
"surface" and "function," both of
changing integrity to authenticity "out original material and design intent and
concern seem
which he describes as problematic, but
of that the rule might to the conviction that authentic
emerging
whose some
restrict eligibility of monuments to dynamic qualities anticipate a selection of at
ity resided inwhat

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ORIGINS AND INFLUENCE OF THE NARA DOCUMENT ON AUTHENTICITY 13

? a
forcing all taken together providing
PLAN EXECUTION USE
detailed, authenticity-based prescription
for needed intervention.
-
1. Intentions Objectives An World on
- expert Heritage meeting
decipherable the evaluation of potential nominations
-
documentation
-
intellectual context of historic canals to theWorld Heritage
List took place at Chaffey's Locks along
2. Know-how
- the Rideau near Ottawa, On
transmissions Canal,
-
technological context tario, in September 1994, just three
3. Environment
-
physical months before the Nara meeting (Fig.
surrowiqjngs
-
4). The discussion focused in part on
of canal
-
validity how to apply the test of authenticity to
environment links
- canals, understood as linear
implications of heritage
know-how (2) corridors with the characteristics of
- of
implications cultural landscapes. The meeting report
materials (4)
presented to theWorld Heritage Com
mittee devotes an annex to the technical
4. Materials
-
conservation analysis of authenticity:
Itwas felt useful to expand the aspects of
- authenticity examined from the four currently
5. Design restoration to associate
- noted in the Operational Guidelines,
periods decipherable these with criteria or indicators which could
-
influences
- suggest how authenticity of canals might best be
documentation
measured in relation to each of the aspects
considered and to examine these within a time
continuum including project planning, execution
6. Uses anq functions and ongoing use. Itwas felt important to stress
- of uses that the resulting matrix was not meant to be
continuity
-
congruence used in a directive or mechanistic fashion, but to
- in uses
interruptions provide a guiding framework for consideration
and functions of a range of evidently interdependent factors,
and ultimately to provide an integrated overview
of these various factors.25
Fig. 5. This matrix was produced as an appendix to a report on the 1994 World Heritage expert
on historic canals held at Chaffey's Locks on the Rideau Canal. It illustrates how, for a partic The matrix in Figure 5 was meant to
meeting
ular type of heritage (canals), a range of authenticity indicators may be developed and used in authen define potential indicators of authentic
ticity assessment at different phases of project and property management. From the UNESCO World
itywithin an array of attributes relevant
Heritage Committee on the Expert Meeting on Heritage Canals (Canada, September 1994 ),
Report to the heritage typology being examined
WHC-94/CONF-003/INF.10.
and to verify relevance of these indica
tors in a time framework focused on
tributes rooted in the particular introduces a
place components)."23 Jokilehto design conception (plan), design imple
and circumstances-specific values of a process for defining appropriate treat mentation and
(execution), long-term
historic reveal. ment whose "first priority is to establish,
place might operations (use). The use of this matrix
As already noted, Jukka Jokilehto's safeguard and maintain the cultural was intended to show how a multi
1993 "Treatments and Authen resource values for which aWorld Her to measure
chapter faceted effort the authentic
ticity" consolidates earlier thinking itage site has been included on the List" ity of complex heritage could support
within a defined process for authenticity and which seeks to ensure that "all
exploration of possible approaches to
and a refer conservation treatments protec treatment.
analysis provides tangible (e.g.,
ence useful for Nara. Here Jokilehto tion, consolidation or restoration) guar
suggested that treatment strategies for antee the protection of the authenticity
Post-Nara: Meetings, Influences, and
cultural-heritage sites "must maintain of the heritage site, prolonging the
Consolidation within the World
authenticity" by maximizing retention duration of its integrity and preparing it
Heritage System
of "historical material," by ensuring for interpretation."24 Jokilehto defines a
"harmony with original design and set of treatment approaches ranging While many significant authenticity
workmanship," by not allowing "new from protection to anastylosis and then discussions inmany different contexts
additions to dominate over the original discusses the implications of each possi took place after Nara, perhaps the most
fabric but respecting the archaeological ble treatment with respect to authentic significant of these were meetings in San
potential," and (citing theWorld Her ity of material, design, workmanship, Antonio, Texas, in 1996 (bringing
itage Operational Guidelines in place at and setting. In the end, this approach together experts from the Americas and
the time) meeting "the test of authentic leads the analyst to understand the need resulting in the Declaration of San
ity in design, material, workmanship or for particular operations at a microscale: Antonio); in Great Zimbabwe in 1999
setting (and in the case of cultural land preventing, revealing, replacing,
remov (bringing together experts from Africa);
scapes their distinctive character and ing, consolidating, maintaining, rein and in Riga, Latvia, in 2000 (bringing

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 14 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 39:2-3, 2008

The Declaration also suggested extend again like San Antonio, included possi
ing the "proofs" of authenticity to ble improvements to the text of the
include reflection of its true value, Nara Document including identification
integrity, context, identity, use, and of management systems, language, and
function. This was an effort to link other forms of intangible heritage
directly to earlier Nara discussions in among attributes expressing authentic
order to identify appropriate proofs ity, and a strong suggestion of the need
relative to redefined "information to give greater emphasis to the
place of

sources," but these results were local communities in a sustainable her

simply
reported without efforts to situate them itage management process. Perhaps
within the larger framework of Nara. because of the strong involvement of the
The Declaration concluded with a well World Heritage Centre in organizing
intentioned but seemingly futile effort this meeting, the recommendations
Fig. 6. The late 1990s reconstruction of Black to rewrite many of the articles of Nara; these new attributes have all
concerning
head's House, in the World Heritage site of
this effort has had no impact on later been included in authenticity informa
Riga, Latvia, on a prominent site in the town's
central square, helped shape discussions that
revisions of theWorld Heritage Opera tion sources in the 2005 version of the
led to the adoption of the Riga Charter, estab tional Guidelines, which have incorpo World Heritage Operational Guidelines.
lishing the limits and conditions within which rated portions of text verbatim from the The Riga Charter on Authenticity
such reconstructions should be considered Nara Document. and Historical Reconstruction in Rela
appropriate in conservation frameworks. Photo
graph by the author.
Another significant regional meeting tionship to Cultural Heritage, developed
concerning authenticity and integrity in in theWorld Heritage City of Riga,
an African context was
organized by the Latvia, in 2000 with the leadership of
together 100 experts from Eastern World Heritage Centre and held in ICCROM, was a regional meeting
Europe and resulting in the Riga Char Great Zimbabwe on May 26-29, 2000. focused on a aspect of authen
particular
ter on Authenticity and Historical
The publication resulting from this ticity, that of reconstruction.29 The
Reconstruction in Relationship to Cul
meeting featured an extraordinarily rich meeting had been convened to confront
tural Heritage). set of case studies and observations from a sudden
proliferation of "in-authentic
The Interamerican on
Symposium 18 speakers who looked at issues arising reconstructions" in the newly liberated
Authenticity in the Conservation and from maintaining authenticity and former Soviet Union republics where the
Management of the Cultural Heritage,
integrity in the management of cultural search for symbols of statehood often
supported by US/ICOMOS and the and natural heritage inAfrica.27 Unlike to result in the
seemed re-creation of
Getty Conservation Institute, took place other on monuments or no
many meetings authenticity former with little
in San Antonio inMarch 1996 and
that followed Nara, the Great Zim regard for historical pertinence, accu
a of ener
brought together large group babwe meeting did not result in adop racy, or context. The conclusions of the
getic participants from almost all ICO tion of a document or charter. However, Riga Charter clearly reflect the discus
MOS national committees of North, the as with sions of Nara, including a definition
synthesis report prepared,
Central, and South America to debate the report of the San Antonio meeting, used in the Nara meeting but not in
the application of the concepts of Nara.
strongly affirmed the special nature and cluded in the document ("authenticity is
The meeting adopted the Declaration of character of heritage of the
?
in a measure of the degree to which the
region
San Antonio, which discussed the rela this case, Africa ? and included some attributes of cultural heritage [including
tionship between authenticity and, in suggestions about how this understand form and materials and sub
design,
sequence, materials,
identity, history,
ing could be better taken up inWorld stance, use and function, traditions and
social value, dynamic and static sites,
Heritage operations. re location and and
Concluding techniques, setting,
and economics. Review of
stewardship, marks byWorld Heritage Committee spirit and feeling, and other factors]
the document 11 years later reveals the member and meeting organizer Dawson credibly and accurately bear witness to
degree to which itwas rooted in the Munjeri were directed at theWorld their significance"). The Riga Charter
need to affirm the special cultural char
Heritage Committee and its ability to also includes a conclusion
sympathetic
acter of the as a basis for under
region what was most to Nara, which in part states that "repli
recognize important
standing its authenticity. about African World Heritage nomina cation of cultural heritage is in general a
Within the cultural diversity of the Americas, tions. Munjeri "stated firmly that the of evidence of the
in the
misrepresentation
groups with separate identities co-exist
same space and time and at times across space
world's resolve in genuinely addressing past, and that each architectural work
and time, sharing cultural manifestations, but the issue of imbalance on theWorld should reflect the time of its own cre
often assigning different values to them. No Heritage List will depend very much on ation, in the belief that sympathetic new
nation in the Americas has a single national how the issue of cultural criterion (vi) is can maintain
buildings the environmen
identity; our diversity makes up the sum of our
national identities. The authenticity of our cul
dealt with. The African voice is unequiv tal context." While the Riga Charter
tural resources lies in the identification, evalua ocal in this issue, 'criterion (vi)must seems not yet to have found itsway into
tion and interpretation of their true values as stand in its own standard sets ofWorld Heritage doctri
right.'"28
perceived by our ancestors in the past and by
The meeting publication also in nal texts, it has been accepted as a key
ourselves now as an evolving and diverse com
cluded a set of recommendations, which, reference in numerous countries outside
munity.26

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ORIGINS AND INFLUENCE OF THE NARA DOCUMENT ON AUTHENTICITY 15

by the Advisory Bodies, the UNESCO forced to interpret or re-work what

World Heritage Centre, and theWorld States' Parties submit in the name of

Heritage Committee informally in the authenticity in nomination documents,

analysis of nominations to theWorld because the submissions often limit
List. The most recent revision of to
Heritage analysis authenticity meaningless
of theWorld Heritage Operational statements such as "this property is
Guidelines (begun in 1999 and autho unquestionably authentic." In other
rized in 2005) formally incorporated the cases, the State Party has not caught up
conclusions of Nara to
guide articula to the Operational Guidelines. For
tion of the section on
authenticity. In example, even though World Heritage
deed, several of the articles of the Nara authenticity was born in practice in the
Document are now U.S., the current National Park Service
reproduced nearly
Fig. 7. The reconstruction of buildings that could
act as symbols of newfound national identity
verbatim within the 2005 Operational guidelines for preparation of possible
was a common tendency in the former re Guidelines: article 80 of the OGs repro future nominations to the World Her
publics of the Soviet Union, as here with the duces most of article 9 of Nara, and itage List note mistakenly that authen
reconstructed of the Grand Duke in the
Palace ?
in 2003.
article 81 reproduces nearly word for ticity resides in the survival of "original
World Heritage city inVilnius, Lithuania,
While an argument could be made for the word ? article 11 of Nara. Article 82 of material."33 These problems lie in the
reconstruction of Blackhead's House on a site the OGs borrows heavily from article 13 frameworks used nationally for analysis,
vacant since World War II (see Fig. 6), the of Nara but extends the Nara list of which often ignore the available cues in
reconstruction of the Vilnius Palace ismore
"information sources" (form and the Operational Guidelines, or, as seen
the reconstruction was achieved design,
questionable:
at the expense of portions of a 200-year-old materials and substance, use and func above, the references used are out of
Russian barracks, and the facades of the recon tion, traditions and techniques, location date. These problems demonstrate the
structed palace were based on very limited and setting, and spirit and feeling, and difficulty of transmitting the nuances of
iconographie evidence. Photograph by the
author.
other internal and external factors) to an expert debate to the
operational level
include management systems, and lan in meaningful ways.
guage, and other forms of intangible In my view, improvement could be
the Baltic region, including Greece,
heritage derived from the conclusions of gained by developing reference models
where it has been used in assessing
reconstruction for the Par
the Great Zimbabwe meeting.32 showing tangible authenticity indicators
strategies state
of the of conservation of historic
thenon, and in the UK, where it has
been as a document under
Post-Nara: Future Challenges places, along the lines of the frameworks
accepted key
introduced during theWorld Heritage
lying the English Heritage Policy State The search for authenticity over the last Rideau Canal expert meeting of 1994
ment on Restoration, Reconstruction 15 years may not have brought about and also explored by Jokilehto in the
and Recreation of Archaeo
Speculative fully the desired shared clarity of mean chapter
on treatments and authenticity.
logical Sites including Ruins (Figs. 6 and ing and use, but it has certainly high The search for monitoring measures
7).30 This Policy Statement notes that lighted the apparent importance of the and indicators has become a major
at a in
participants regional meeting quest. This paper has attempted to preoccupation of those in the conserva
Eastern Europe agreed that the Riga the most relevant observations
analyze tion field over the last 15 years. This
Charter "has wider application....and about meaning and use of the concept
that the Charter re-establishes the pre
emphasis is a reflection of the growing
of authenticity made before, during, commitment to improving management
sumption against reconstruction except and subsequent to the development of frameworks for care of cultural heritage
in very special circumstances and re the Nara in order to trace
iterates that it must in no way be specu
Document,
through the use of monitoring, which is
the main lines of thinking in the debate understood as a key component of the
lative."31 and in particular to suggest what role
management process. Treated as a word
Slowly, with the aid of the visibility the use of this concept could play in that conservation
?
expresses goals
and credibility conferred by the conclu conservation and
contemporary analysis and enhancing
meet maintaining authenticity
sions of these and other related decision A number of impor ?
making. the concept of authenticity a
to provides
ings, the Nara Document has begun tant in
challenges remain, however,
significant opportunity to define indica
find official acceptance in theWorld efforts to bring use of authenticity to tors in very ways.
tangible
Heritage world. effectiveness in conservation
greater The opportunity to move in this
During the 1999 International Gen thinking and decision making. direction is already in place. The recent
eral Assembly of ICOMOS, held five One of the most visible challenges, World Heritage expert meeting on
after the Nara Document was first
years
particularly evident in theWorld Her Benchmarks and Chapter IV of the
adopted, the document was formally context, is the limited understand
itage Operational Guidelines (April 2007)34
adopted by an ICOMOS General As ing of the concept in those preparing focused on the importance of using
sembly and became a part of the body of nominations, in spite of the long-time, of authenticity and in
understanding
doctrine supported and promoted by focus on for
expert improving processes in monitoring state of conserva
tegrity
ICOMOS. In practice, the Nara Docu
evaluating authenticity forWorld Her tion. Recommendation Number One
ment had been used since the mid-1990s
itage. Each year ICOMOS finds itself states that "TheWorld Heritage Com

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 16 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 39:2-3, 2008

mittee should formally adopt a monitor to apply authenticity to sites understood faceted world of the authenticity-in
ing framework forWorld Heritage sites as wholes, rather than just to fragments tegrity discussion emerging in theWorld
which is rooted in the outstanding uni of the sites. This need responds to our Heritage domain and beyond. He elo
versal value of the sites." Recommenda ever-expanding views of what consti quently pinpointed the need to define
tion Number Four further notes that the tutes cultural heritage and the growing new, more
holistically-based frame
statement of outstanding universal value challenge to work within systemic, works for evaluating authenticity and its
"should include the qualifying condi holistic, and integrated frameworks in companion concept, integrity.
tions of authenticity/integrity, specific managing cultural heritage. These Ko?chiro Matsuura, Director-General
attributes or features of the site which emerging frameworks integrate
concern of UNESCO, speaking in 2006 of the
carry its outstanding universal value."35 for culture and nature, for the big pic role of UNESCO, stated that "In the
A second challenge is the need to ture offered by a cultural-landscapes face of the attempts to re-write history
close the gap between the results of approach, for integrating tangible and that are
currently at work, I can but

technically proficient approaches to intangible heritage, for linking the living recall in the most emphatic
manner that

maintaining authenticity in the transfor and the spiritual to the physical, and it is our moral duty to analyze the past
mation of buildings having recognized finally (in the name of authenticity) for and to pass it on without falsification,
heritage importance and the tourism defining indicators that focus on the big alteration or omission." While Mat
driven transformations that trivialize rather than on of that suura was moved to make this statement
picture fragments
this in reference to attempts "to call into
experience. reality.
The search for authenticity has al These challenges were already identi question...the reality of the Holocaust or

ways had the power to move heritage fied in 1999 in Great Zimbabwe by of any other crime against humanity,"

professionals charged with shaping Dawson Munjeri, who stated: his words provide a telling and clear
various historic elements of their envi that the essence of the notion of authenticity is reminder of the relevance of the quest

ronment, but it has also had the power culturally relative. In traditional African soci for authenticity within the contempo
to touch members of the public who eties, it is not based on the cult of physical of human
rary development society.39
objects ("the tangible") and certainly not on
seek to find meaning in their cultural condition and aesthetic values. In these societies,
HERB STOVEL is a professor and the Co
environment. In fact the public is no less the interplay of sociological and religious forces
ordinator of the Heritage Conservation Pro
than the professionals and no has an upper hand in shaping the notion of
discerning gramme, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
less interested in experiencing cultures authenticity.36
He has worked with key Canadian and interna
and cultural manifestations in their Munjeri further referred to the concept tional organizations for over 35 years to
of integrity, which emphasizes "whole promote inter-disciplinary, integrated, and
fullest authenticity. Heritage profession
holistic approaches to heritage conservation.
als should identify opportunities to ness, virtuosity, unfettered by perceived he was co
Along with Raymond Lemaire,
and human and non
include those guiding the larger experi organic inorganic rapporteur during the meeting that resulted in
human intrusions." In addressing the the Nara Document on Authenticity. Professor
ence of place in communities (for exam
Stovel was president of APT from 1989 to
ple, those involved with development of implications of the issue of integrity for 1991.
cultural landscapes, Munjeri wrote:
tourism) in these debates, rather than
continuing to debate authenticity exclu How can such integrity be recognisable when
there are no boundaries traditionally demarcat Notes
sively among themselves. Of course,
ing the world of the creator from that of human 1. Herb Stovel, "Working towards the Nara
while the goal of such a dialogue may
ity and from that of nature? In the area around Document," inNara Conference on Authentic
not be easy to achieve (the very presence the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage site,
ity, Japan 1994, Proceedings (Oslo: UNESCO
of tourists in a visited spot alters the constant problems have arisen when its bound
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan, 1995),
aries have been asserted and legally enforced xxxiii-xxxvi.
authentic local quality of the place),
against a surrounding community who have
certainly today this dialogue is hardly always known that "Duma harina muganhu"
2. Herb Stovel, "Considerations in Framing the
for Conservation," in
present. If theWorld Heritage Commit (the Duma have no boundary). The solution lies Authenticity Question
on Authenticity, ed. Knut
in recognising that indigenous communities are Nara Conference
tee Periodic Reporting system reports Einar Larsen (Trondheim, Norway: Tapir
of sites on the
at heart, "ecosystem people" integrally linked to
that many managers Publishers, 1995), 393-398. This article de
the ecosystem they inhabit. They are part of the
World Heritage List cannot articulate It is they who can sanction scribes in some detail the American origins of
integrity equation.
the World Heritage test of authenticity.
their site's outstanding universal value, utilitarian space and through their systems of
can we more from a checks and balances are the underwriters of that 3. "Nara Document on Authenticity," inNara
then expect region's customs
integrity. It is in this context that their Conference on Authenticity, xxi-xxv.
tourism managers? Perhaps theWorld and beliefs need to be encouraged and rein
be encour 4. Natalia Dushkina, "Authenticity: Towards
Heritage Committee could forced.37
the Ecology of Culture," inNara Conference
aged to organize a series of regional Munjeri concluded by stating that "in on Authenticity, 310.
tourism and conser
workshops bringing
dealing with the issue of authenticity 5. Herb Stovel, from commentaries included in
vation to develop
professionals together and one cannot but accept the Annex 4, The Operational Guidelines for the
integrity,
some possible place-specific model influence of the spiritual Implementation of the World Heritage Conven
powerful
for communicating the tion, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, version
approaches realm; all else is incidental."38
prepared by the Advisory Bodies (draft, unpub
importance of authenticity within the Although Munjeri uttered these lished, March 2003).
tourism field. words almost a decade accu
ago, they 6. Patrick W Andrus and Rebecca H. Shrimp
A third challenge, and perhaps the the multi
rately anticipated complex, ton, "How to Evaluate the Integrity of a
most important, is the continuing need

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 ORIGINS AND INFLUENCE OF THE NARA DOCUMENT ON AUTHENTICITY 17

Property," How to Apply the National Register of authenticity that currently found in 32. Interim draft version of the Operational
beyond
Criteria for Evaluation Bulletin (13 MB), VIII, the Operational Guidelines of 2005. Stovel, Guidelines worked on by the Advisory Bodies
Internet version revised 2002, http://www.nps "Considerations in Framing the Authenticity and the World Heritage Centre fairly inten
.gov/history/nr/publications/bulletins/nrbl5/ Question for Conservation," 393-398. sively from Nov. 2003 to March 2004 ad
nrbl5_8.htm. vanced treatment of authenticity beyond that
17. International Charter for the Conservation
7. Dushkina, currently found in the Operational Guidelines
310. and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (The
of 2005. Articles from the Nara Document
Venice Charter), preamble.
8. Stovel, from commentaries included in were retained within an Annex to the OGs on
Annex 4, The Operational Guidelines for the 18. E. A. Connally, personal notes (untitled) on and the Guidelines themselves
authenticity,
Implementation of the World Heritage Conven UNESCO document CC-76/WS/25, reporting were limited to process-based and
commentary
tion. on a meeting of World Heritage advice to States' Parties on identifying and
Advisory
Bodies and World Heritage Committee repre in preparing nomina
9. Stovel, "Considerations in Framing the evaluating authenticity
sentatives inMorges, Switzerland, 19-20 May tions and assessing state of conservation.
Authenticity Question for Conservation," 395.
1976, author's files. Connally's notes also
Dr. Connally in a number of personal inter 33. Application for inclusion of a property in
views with the author preceding the Nara report on the development of integrity in the
the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List, Na
on authenticity American system: Connally also notes that in
meeting confirmed that in his tional Park Service, photocopy, author's files.
the late 1950s and early 1960s, he promoted a
view authenticity had to be present in all of the
? broader concept of integrity than that first 34. Benchmarks and Chapter IV of the Opera
attributes material, design, workmanship,
? articulated in 1953, which promoted inclusion tional Guidelines (Paris, April 2-3, 2007).
setting for a site to be inscribed on the
of integrity of design and setting in the Ameri WHC-07/31.COM/7.3. 31st Session of the
World Heritage List.
can system. World Heritage Christ Church,
Committee,
10. Andrus and Shrimpton, "How to Evaluate New Zealand,
19. Stefan Tschudi-Madsen, in June 23-July 2, 2007. See
the Integrity of a Property." "Principles
Practice," APT Bulletin 17, no. 3-4 (1985): 17. http://whc.unesco.org/archive/2007/whc07-31
11. Preamble to the International Charter for com-73e.doc.
20. Ibid., 18.
the Conservation and Restoration of Monu 35. The conclusions of the Cambridge meeting
ments and Sites (The Venice Charter). The 21. Ibid., 19. on World Heritage monitoring of 1993, held 14
Venice Charter was adopted by the Und Inter
22. Ibid., 19. years earlier, differ from those of the Paris 2007
national Congress of Architect and Technicians on benchmarks
meeting only in matters of
of Historic Monuments, held in Venice in 1964. 23. Jokilehto, "Treatment and Authenticity," detail: "The expert meeting defined systematic
ICOMOS, since its founding in 1965, has acted 59. more precisely
monitoring as the process of the
as the custodian of the Venice Charter.
24. Ibid., 60. continuous repeated observation of the condi
12. "Nara Document on Authenticity," tion^) of the site, the identification of issues
25. Report on the Expert Meeting on Heritage
xxi-xxv. that threaten its conservation and World Heri
Canals (Canada, September 1994). 18th session
tage characteristics and values, the identifica
13. Guo Zhan, e-mail to the author, March of the World Heritage Committee, Phuket, tion of actions and decisions to be taken, and
2007. Thailand, Dec. 1994.
the reporting of the findings of monitoring and
14. Many of those who have discussed the 26. The Declaration of San Antonio, Article 1. the resulting recommendations to the appropri
authenticity question with me before and since Authenticity and Identity. ate authorities, the World Heritage Bureau and
Nara have occasionally expressed some bore the Committee and the cultural and scientific
27. Galia Saouma-Forero, ed., Authenticity and
dom with the continuing emphasis given the communities." See whc-93-conf002-4e[l].pdf.
Integrity in an African context. Expert meeting,
practical application of authenticity, preferring Although the World Heritage meeting report
Great Zimbabwe, 26/29 May, 2000 (Paris:
the stratospheric flights of fancy that linking does not cover this, most of the papers pre
UNESCO, 2001).
authenticity to identity, memory, and human sented by both cultural- and natural-heritage
existence can sometimes It is impor 28. Operational Guidelines for the Implementa experts focused on the clear definition of heri
produce.
to remember tion of the World Heritage Feb.
tant, however, that the authentic Convention, tage values as the starting point for effective
ity debate, in aWorld Heritage context, 2005. Para 77. Criterion (vi) is described as and several, including mine,
began monitoring,
with the need to examine the adequacy of follows: "(vi) be directly or tangibly associated looked at the use of the tangible attributes
assessments about conservation in one with events or living traditions, with ideas, or described in the "qualifying conditions" as a
practice
with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of
country, Japan. jumping off ?point for such monitoring activity.
outstanding universal significance. (The Com
15. Jukka Jokilehto, "Treatment and Authen 36. Dawson Munjeri, "The Notions of Integ
mittee considers that this criterion should
ticity," inManagement Guidelines for World be used in conjunction with other rity and Authenticity: The Emerging Patterns in
Cultural preferably
Heritage Sites, ed. B. Feilden and J. Africa," in Authenticity and Integrity in an
criteria)."
Jokilehto (Rome: ICCROM-UNESCO African context, 18.
ICOMOS, 1993), 59-75. 29. Herb Stovel, "The Riga Charter on Authen
37. Ibid., 19.
16. For five heady months, ticity and Historical Reconstruction in Rela
this definition was
also in the late 2003-early tionship to Cultural Heritage, Riga, Latvia, 38. Ibid., 19.
2004 draft Opera
October 2000," in Conservation and Manage
tional Guidelines before the then-president of 39. Ko?chiro Matsuura, Director-General of
ment of Archaeological Sites 4, no. 4 (2001):
the World Heritage Committee was alerted to a UNESCO, public statement on Dec. 13, 2006.
241-244.
potential Advisory Body coup and pulled the Press communiqu? available on the UNESCO
plug on this radical contribution. An interim 30. English Heritage, Policy Statement on Web site, http://portal.unesco.org/en.
draft version of the Operational Guidelines Restoration, Reconstruction and Speculative
worked on by the Bodies and the Recreation of Archaeological Sites including
Advisory
World Heritage Centre fairly intensively from Ruins, photocopy, author's files.
Nov. 2003 to March 2004 advanced treatment 31. Ibid.

This content downloaded from 193.225.122.113 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 04:19:57 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions