Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation

The book contributes to a recontextualization of authenticity by investigating how this value is created, reenacted, and assigned. Over the course of the last century, authenticity figured as the major parameter for the evaluation of cultural heritage. It was adopted in local and international charters and guidelines on architectural conservation in Europe, South and East Asia. Throughout this period, the concept of authenticity was constantly redefined and transformed to suit new cultural contexts and local concerns. This volume presents colonial and postcolonial discourses, opinions, and experiences in the field of architectural heritage conservation and the use of site-specific practices based on representative case studies presented by art historians, architects, anthropologists, and conservationists from Germany, Nepal, India, China, and Japan. With more than 180 illustrations and a collection of terminologies in German, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Nevari and Nepali, classical Chinese and standard Mandarin, and Japanese, these cross-cultural investigations document the processual re-configuration of the notion of authenticity. They also show that approaches to authenticity can be specified with key analytical categories from transcultural studies: appropriation, transformation, and, in some cases, refusal. 

Introduction.- Architectural Heritage Conservation in South and East Asia and Europe. Contemporary Practices.- The Impulse to Remember: Thoughts on the Conservation of World War II Ruins in Germany.- Part I: Case Studies from South Asia.- The Idea of Place in the Practice of Restoration and Replication in India.- Humayuns Tomb: Conservation and Restoration.- Sompura: Traditional Master Builders of Western India.- Contested Evaluations: Authenticity and the Living Traditions of Master Builders and Stone Masons in India.- Material Authenticity and Conservation Traditions in Nepal.- Part II: Case Studies from East Asia.- Authenticity and Heritage Conservation in China: Translation, Interpretation, Practices.- Restoration and Conservation of the Yisu Society Theater in Xian.- Aspects of Architectural Authenticity in Chinese Heritage Theme Parks.- Repair by Disassembly (Jap. kaitai shri) in Japan.- Authenticity in Japan.- Part III: Interviews.- Changes in Basic Attitudes to Monument Preservation in Germany: A Conversation with Architectural Conservationist Gottfried Kiesow.- Essential Architectural Values: A Conversation with the Architect Raj Rewal.- The Conservation of Humayuns Tomb in Delhi: A Debate On-Site.- Conclusion.