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Theories, Concepts
and Principles of
Conservation
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Adolphe Napoleon Didron
Regarding ancient monuments. It is
better to consolidate than to repair,
better to repair than to restore, better
to restore than to rebuild, better to
rebuild than to embellish, in no case
must anything be added and, above all
nothing should be removed.
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“Art belongs in their cultural and geographical
Concepts, Theories and Principles
• STYLISTIC RESTORATION
• CONCEPT OF ANASTYLOSIS
• RESTAURO STORICO (HISTORICAL RESTORATION)
• RESTAURO SCIENTIFICO (SCIENTIFIC RESTORATION)
• CAMILLO BOITO’S THEORY OF RESTORATION
• RENATO BONELLI’S THEORY OF THE UNITY OF LINE
• CESARE BRANDI’S THEORY OF RESTORATION
• SALVADOR MUNOZ VINAS’ CONTEMPORARY THEORY OF
CONSERVATION
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STYLISTIC RESTORATION
The term Restoration and the thing itself
are both modern. To restore a building is
not to preserve it, to repair, or to rebuild it;
it is to reinstate it in a condition of
completeness which may never have
existed at any given time.
- “Every building and every part pf building
Eugene Viollet-le-Duc
Emphasis on style over authenticity
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context.” – Quatremere de Quincy
De Quincy was an art and architectural historian
who wrote three architecture volumes in the
Encyclopedia Methodique and a historical
dictionary of architecture.
He was the one who wrote about architecture
also as a metaphor of language – vernacular,
idiom, vocabulary of architecture
Restoration should also show what is original
and any new addition should not falsify the
original. The old should be distinguished from
the new.
Viollet-le-Duc
Took charge of the urban planning of Paris
when Napoleon III came into power
“Style is the illustration of an ideal based
on a principle”
should be restored in its own style, not
only, as regards appearance but
structure.”
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STYLISTIC RESTORATION

Viollet-le-Duc’s Proposal for

the restoration of the Abbey
Church of St. Denis

Abbey Church of St. Denis, France,

1655 First Gothic building

Early 19th century print of the Cathedral of St. Denis

Viollet-le-Duc’s proposal to restore

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No need to reconstruct as respect for

the historical events that transpired in Camillo Boito – laid the foundations of
the Roman Forum
William Morris modern conservation policy in Italy through
the First Italian Charter of Conservation in
Conservation should not be through
1883, and revising it in 1893
restoration of the style but by taking stock of
the condition of the entire building, good • Ancient monuments are to be
practice of maintenance and repair, and considered as documents that reflect
building care.
history in all its parts.
• Maintain the old picturesque aspect of
the monument without falsification.
• He divided architecture into three
categories
- Antiquity; Medieval; and Later
Buildings

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Restauro Storico (Historical

Restoration)
By Luca Beltrami

Restoration must not be based on Castello Sforzesco restoration by Beltrami, Milan

imagination but on data about the
monument.

Monuments can be recomposed if there

are still fragments or lines that can
delineate the entire form. Campanile of San Marco restored by
Beltrami after its collapse

Considered as the first modern

restoration architect in Italy.

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Restauro Scientifico (Scientific

Restoration)
by Gustavo Giovannoni
• Presented his Restauro Scientifico theory in
the International Congress of 1938 in Athens
• Applied to monuments, historic buildings, and
urban areas.
• Identified four (4) types of scientific
restoration in 1936:
1. Restoration by consolidation
2. Restoration by recomposition (anastylosis)
3. Restoration by liberation, and
4. Restoration by completion or renovation

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RESTORATION BY ANASTYLOSIS
THE CONCEPT OF
ANASTYLOSIS

Archaeological term that

refers to reuniting or
reinstating original
fragments of a ruined
building to re-create again
the whole

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Anastylosis in the Acropolis, Greece

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The Erechtheion
Circa 1880

Anastylosis of the
temple 1979 to 1987

Cement casts of the

caryatids replaced the
originals that were
brought to the Acropolis
Museum to prevent
irreparable damage

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Ferrara Cathedral
RESTORATION BY
COMPLETION

The Sagrada Familia was not
completed during Antoni Gaudi’s
lifetime but completed afterwards
Modern conservation theories by the Italians
Roberto Pane
• Limit anastylosis (recomposition from fragments) and distinguish old elements
from the new
• Each monument is a unique case and must be restored; restoration is in itself
a work of art

Renato Bonelli
• Restoration is a unity of line, a function of art
• Remove some parts based on the architecture ideal of the present to achieve
unity
• Removed 15th century shops in front of the Ferrara Cathedral to achieve the
building’s unobstructed view and full appreciation

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Brandi’s Theory of Restoration

Theory of Restoration
by Cesare Brandi
• Only the material of a work of art is
restored.
• Restoration should aim to re-establish
the potential oneness of the work of art,
without committing artistic or historical
forgery, and without erasing every trace
of the passage through time of the work
of art.
• Respect for the patina of age.
• Judgement when confronted with historic stratification, base on the
historic and aesthetic instances: not on economics or technology: the
right approach must come from the own work of art, and intern
dialectic which dictates the actions to take.
• Illegitimacy of dismantling and rebuilding and constructing in a place other
than its original site
• Dismantled and rebuilt monuments are degraded and are like
mummified corpses.
• The legitimacy of dismantling and rebuilding the monument it if is the only
way to save it.

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Disassembly and
rebuilding in Las Casas
Filipinas de Acuzar
Del Rosario House
Binondo

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Museum of Natural History

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