Historyzm na opak? : refleksje nad konserwacją zabytków w dwudziestym wieku

• Authors: Krzyżanowski Lech

Title variants

EN

HISTORISM GONE WRONG? REFLECTIONS ON HISTORICAL OBJECT RESTORATION IN THE 20TH CENTURY

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

This text was presented at the session on „History and the Work of Art", w h ich was organized in 1 9 8 8 by the Association of Art Historians. The restoration of architectural monuments, being a product of 17th and 19th century historism, was once a feature of the architectural ideology and thus subordinated to the same historical styles. At the turn of the 19th and 20 th centuries, the development of new construction materials and the architects' breaking off with historical styles could also open new perspectives for the restoration of historical objects. A scientific base was fo rm ulated (by A. Riegl, among others). By introducing a system of evaluation and the concept of the original material and structure of an old architectural work, the road was opened for the development of historical object preservation, for the maintenance of its material shape, its adaptation to contemporary functional needs. It could be expected that there wo uld be a withdrawa l from the principles of 19 th-century architectural restoration, when historical monuments were rebuilt after historical styles in the name of an imagined concept of the contemporary restorer, sometimes under the deceptive slogan of restoring the original state. The collapse of the campanile of S. Marco, Venice, and its immediate reconstruction at the beginning of the 20th century, posed new questions to historical-object restorers. Then the tw o world wars created a new situation. Not many countries of Europe refrained from post-war reconstruction of already nonexistent churches, tow n halls etc. The author analyses the causes of this action, pointing to a number of myths created by restorers in the 20th century in an effort to prove the objective nature of their undertakings, so as to avoid the pitfalls faced by 19th-century restorers of architectural objects. These are undertakings which to a certain extent strive for the feeling of comfort of those working at the restoration of historical heritage. The essence of the matter lies in the interpretation of history, which each generation approaches from its own perspective. If, however, the goal is to preserve the heritage of past ages, to adapt it to contemporary and future functions, then an answer must be provided to the question: is it our task to recreate history, is the construction of copies an expression of respect for the history of our species and its achievements. It must be emphasized that 20th-century architecture has also passed through several recurrences of historism. In many countries a withdrawal from post-modernism is sought in the preference for contemporary solutions that reach into the future. There is no reason, however, for historical object restoration to repeat all the trends that contemporary architecture goes through. We must nevertheless answer the question how we, historical object restorers, understand history and what our duties are towards it. This is also an issue of professional ethics.

Keywords

PL

historyzm; konserwacja zabytków; art nouveau; art moderne; restauracja

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 1990
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 12-15

Dates

published

1990

Contributors

author

Krzyżanowski Lech

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247