Venice at 60: Article 5 and the acceptable limits of use
Nigel Walter
nigelesque@gmail.comVenice at 60: Article 5 and the Acceptable Limits of Use (United Kingdom)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1152-522X
Abstract
The Venice Charter is central to modern conservation, and foundational for ICOMOS specifically; yet its contemporary relevance is debatable. These and other issues were discussed by ICOMOS in Budapest 20 years ago, in a conference marking the Charter’s 40th anniversary. However, questions remain as to its ongoing significance. As Bogusław Szmygin asked in 2004, does the Charter remain the ‘Decalogue' of the conservation discipline, or has it itself become a ‘Historical Monument’?The Venice Charter as a product of high modernity, with its belief in a definitive break with the past and an overcoming of tradition. The paper assesses the Charter’s ongoing relevance in relation to one pressing issue in contemporary conservation, the limits to the acceptable use of – and change to – historic buildings (Art. 5), and using an example of recent change to an English parish church. The paper argues that the acknowledged need for the interpretation of the Charter requires a hermeneutically literate approach which acknowledges the limits of a scientific/technical reading of any historic monument – the Charter included – and the importance of a dynamic understanding of the living tradition that is conservation. It concludes that the Charter remains a central text for the conservation discipline, which itself is a tradition in good health, and for that very reason its status will continue to be fiercely debated.
Keywords:
Venice Charter, English Parish Church, change, Nara Document, AuthenticityReferences
Araoz, G. F. (2011). Preserving heritage places under a new paradigm. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 1(1), 55–60. https://doi.org/DOI 10.1108/20441261111129933
Google Scholar
Araoz, G. F. (2012). Protecting Heritage Places under the New Heritage Paradigm & Defining its Tolerance for Change. A Leadership Challenge for ICOMOS. In W. Lipp, J. Štulc, B. Szmygin, & S. Giometti (Eds.), Conservation turn—Return to conservation: Tolerance for change, limits of change (pp. 47–52). Edizioni Polistampa.
Google Scholar
Brand, S. (1994). How buildings learn: What happens after they’re built. Viking.
Google Scholar
Brandi, C. (2005). Theory of restoration. In G. Basile (Ed.), & C. Rockwell (Trans.), Theory of restoration (pp. 43–170). Nardini Editore. (Original work published 1963)
Google Scholar
DCMS. (2010). The operation of the ecclesiastical exemption and related planning matters for places of worship in England. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/77372/OPSEEguidance.pdf
Google Scholar
Dobres, M.-A., & Robb, J. E. (2000). Editors’ introduction. In M.-A. Dobres & J. E. Robb (Eds.), Agency in archaeology (pp. 3–17). Routledge.
Google Scholar
Erder, C. (1994). The Venice Charter under Review, Ankara, 1977. ICOMOS Scientific Journal, 4, 24–31. (Original work published 1977)
Google Scholar
Falser, M. S. (2010). From Venice 1964 to Nara 1994—Changing concepts of authenticity? In M. S. Falser, W. Lipp, & A. Tomaszewski (Eds.), Conservation and preservation: Interactions between theory and practice: In memoriam Alois Riegl (1858-1905) (pp. 115–132). Edizioni Polistampa.
Google Scholar
Fejérdy, T. (2005). Who Wanted it? What is the Charter?...And Today? In ICOMOS, The Venice Charter 1964-2004-2044? The Fortieth Anniversary (Budapest-Pécs, Hungary, May 22-27, 2004) (pp. 46–51). Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2962/1/K649-Monuments_and_Sites-v11-2005.pdf
Google Scholar
Gadamer, H.-G. (1989). Truth and method (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Trans.; 2nd, rev. ed.). Sheed and Ward. (Original work published 1960)
Google Scholar
Gadamer, H.-G. (2022). The End of Art? From Hegel’s Doctrine of the Pastness of Art to the Anti-art of Today (1985). In A. Iyer & P. Vandevelde (Trans.), Ethics, aesthetics and the historical dimension of language: The Selected Writings of Hans-Georg Gadamer Volume II (pp. 65–76). Bloomsbury Academic. (Original work published 1985)
Google Scholar
Glendinning, M. (2013). The conservation movement: A history of architectural preservation: Antiquity to modernity. Routledge.
Google Scholar
Historic England. (2008). Conservation principles: Policies and guidance for the sustainable management of the historic environment. English Heritage. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/conservation-principles-sustainable-management-historic-environment/
Google Scholar
ICOMOS. (2005). The Venice Charter 1964-2004-2044? The Fortieth Anniversary (Budapest-Pécs, Hungary, May 22-27, 2004). Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2962/1/K649-Monuments_and_Sites-v11-2005.pdf
Google Scholar
Jokilehto, J. (1999). A history of architectural conservation. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Google Scholar
Jokilehto, J. (2005). The Doctrine of the Venice Charter: An ICCROM Perspective. In ICOMOS, The Venice Charter 1964-2004-2044? The Fortieth Anniversary (Budapest-Pécs, Hungary, May 22-27, 2004) (pp. 71–77). Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2962/1/K649-Monuments_and_Sites-v11-2005.pdf
Google Scholar
Jokilehto, J. (2023). Observations on Concepts in the Venice Charter. Conversaciones Con., 11, 353–363.
Google Scholar
Latour, B. (1993). We have never been modern (C. Porter, Trans.). Harvard University Press.
Google Scholar
Lipp, W. (2005). The Charter of Venice as a Document of the Times. In ICOMOS, The Venice Charter 1964-2004-2044? The Fortieth Anniversary (Budapest-Pécs, Hungary, May 22-27, 2004) (pp. 107–110). Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2962/1/K649-Monuments_and_Sites-v11-2005.pdf
Google Scholar
Lipp, W. (2024). 60 years and not a bit quiet: Reflections on the history of time and ideas for an anniversary.
Google Scholar
Locke, W. J. (1904). Recommendations of the Madrid Conference. The Architectural Journal, Being the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, XI, 343–346.
Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. C. (2007). After virtue: A study in moral theory (3rd ed.). Duckworth. (Original work published 1981)
Google Scholar
Miller, D. (Ed.). (2005). Materiality. Duke University Press.
Google Scholar
Muñoz Viñas, S. (2023). A theory of cultural heritage: Beyond the intangible. Routledge.
Google Scholar
Petzet, M. (2005). The Venice Charter—40 Years Later. In ICOMOS, The Venice Charter 1964-2004-2044? The Fortieth Anniversary (Budapest-Pécs, Hungary, May 22-27, 2004) (pp. 138–142). Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2962/1/K649-Monuments_and_Sites-v11-2005.pdf
Google Scholar
Poulios, I. (2014). The past in the present: A living heritage approach—Meteora, Greece. Ubiquity Press. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/33207
Google Scholar
Stovel, H., Stanley-Price, N., & Killick, R. G. (Eds.). (2005). Conservation of living religious heritage: Papers from the ICCROM 2003 Forum on Living Religious Heritage: Conserving the sacred. ICCROM.
Google Scholar
Szmygin, B. (2005). The Venice Charter: Decalogue of Conservation or Historical Monument? In ICOMOS, The Venice Charter 1964-2004-2044? The Fortieth Anniversary (Budapest-Pécs, Hungary, May 22-27, 2004) (p. 192). Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/2962/1/K649-Monuments_and_Sites-v11-2005.pdf
Google Scholar
UNESCO. (1977). Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. https://whc.unesco.org/archive/opguide77b.pdf
Google Scholar
UNESCO. (1989). Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore. UNESCO. https://www.univeur.org/cuebc/downloads/PDF%20carte/80.%201989%20UNESCO%20Recommendation.PDF
Google Scholar
UNESCO. (2003). Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention
Google Scholar
Walter, N. (2020). Narrative theory in conservation: Change and living buildings. Routledge.
Google Scholar
Walter, N. (2023). The Ecclesiastical Exemption in Practice. Historic Churches: The Conservation and Repair of Ecclesiastical Buildings, 30, 17–20.
Google Scholar
Wijesuriya, G. (2015). Annexe 1: Living heritage: A summary. http://www.iccrom.org/wp-content/uploads/PCA_Annexe-1.pdf
Google Scholar
Authors
Nigel Walternigelesque@gmail.com
Venice at 60: Article 5 and the Acceptable Limits of Use United Kingdom
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1152-522X
Statistics
Abstract views: 35PDF downloads: 15
