Working on UNESCO Heritage

The ensemble of Hurezi Monastery 
 (XVII-th century)
  Romania (2006)

The preservation of art works, monuments and buildings is a very important sector, especially for a country like Romania


Preserving and restoring means bringing back to life those works that have been damaged or semi-destroyed through time, and this is not an easy activity at all. Any restorer and construction company, no matter if it is a small enterprise that deals with unknown works or a restorer that has to renew works that are famous all over the world, has to consider many factors before restoring a painting or a monument, and to give consideration also to the history of the work itself.
Restoring an architectural or artistic work, especially when it is very ancient, does not only mean to clean and repair it, as you would do with any item or building, it also implies studying its history and consider it as something which is alive, and which is still telling us about its and our past.
When people speak about restoration, often there are controversies and different points of view: on the one hand, some people prefer those interventions in which the work of the restorer is not visible, on the other hand some other people claim that we should be able to distinguish between the original parts of the work and the parts that have been restored. This controversy has been an issue since the beginning of the restoration activity.
We can say that restoration was born at the end of the 18th century, following the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, the discovering of Egyptian ancient relics and a renewed interest in Greek ancient relics, when people begin to look into the artistic and architectonic works of the past and, as a consequence, they begin to be interested also in their restoration and preservation.
In the 19th century the different points of view on restoration result in two separate currents, the historic and the philological restoration. In the first case we start from historical documents to restore the work, in order to make the work appear as it did in the mind of its designer, without considering the changes that there have been through time.
The philological restoration is based on the idea that the changes that have been made and that have an artistic value should not be left out, as they tell us something about the work. In the first half of the 20th century the work of the restorer is enriched by new cues also thanks to Giovannoni, who points out that restoration should be a team job to be done by architects together with chemists, geologists and other experts, in order to give consideration to different aspects of the work or building.
In the 20th century also other trends and currents develop, as an evidence of the fact that the debate on restoration has not been exhausted yet. Among the best-known and most influential currents there are critical restoration and the theories of Cesare Brandi, who claimed that it was necessary to look at the work from both an artistic and a historical point of view.
In conclusion, when we deal with the restoration of works and buildings, we are dealing with an issue that is more complicated than it might seem, an issue that does not have univocal solutions and theories, but different and contrasting points of view.

Interventive Conservation

Interventive Conservation refers to any act by a conservator that involves a direct interaction between the conservator and the cultural material. These interventive treatments could involve cleaning, stabilizing, repair, or even replacement of parts of the original object. It is essential that the conservator should fully justify any such work. Complete documentation of the work; carried out before, during, and after the treatment rules out chances of later doubts.

The principal goal of a conservator is to nullify or at least reduce the rate of deterioration of an object, this can be achieved through either non-interventive or inventive methodologies. Interventive methodologies include all those actions taken by the conservator to directly intervene with the material fabric of the object. Such actions include surface cleaning such as varnish removal, or consolidation such as securing flaking paint. Such interventive actions are carried out for a variety of reasons including; aesthetic choices, Stabilization needs for structural integrity, or for cultural requirements for intangible continuity.

One of the guiding principles of conservation has traditionally been the idea of reversibility, that is that all interventions with the object should be fully reversibly, and the object should be able to be returned to the state in which it was prior to the conservators intervention. Although this concept remains a guiding principle of the profession, it is a concept that has been widely critiqued within the conservation profession and is now considered by many to be “a fuzzy concept”. Another important principle of conservation is that all alterations should be well documented and should be clearly distinguishable from the original object.

An example of a highly publicized interventive conservation effort would be the conservation work conducted on the Hurezi Monastery from Romania (UNESCO Heritage)

The Church of Hurezi Monastery during restoration (2006)

The Votive Frame of Prince Brancoveanu and his wife Princess Marica and their children (11)

The ruins of Infirmary of Hurezi Monastery