Output details

Reconstructing Europe: the need for guidelines

Bold, in collaboration with an expert on international heritage conventions, here discusses the idea of post-war and post-disaster historicist-style reconstruction of historic buildings. This strategy is frowned upon in heritage circles since it challenges the well-established (although negotiable) notion of authenticity. It is demonstrably redundant however to condemn a practice which is currently employed, particularly in central and south-eastern Europe, as an affirmation of identity, and in a post-war situation, a signifier of a return to normality which would encourage the return of the exiled. It is proposed that guidelines for practice, rather than simple condemnation, are what are needed, and that the Council of Europe should work towards the development of such guidelines so that future practice may be carried out to the highest possible standards. The essay builds on two international meetings already held, one with Council of Europe support, and proposes a way forward for this contentious subject. The approach here is innovative: general discussion of the issues and the various approaches in the 20th century to post-war reconstruction – historicist re-creation, or building anew to signify a new start – is followed by guidelines. It is intended that this essay should represent a stage in the process towards the establishment of agreed international guidelines, possibly under the auspices of the Council of Europe with which the authors are closely associated as long-standing expert advisors on the built heritage.