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Preservation and presentation are central activities in the conservation of the historic environment. But are they mutually supportive or do they work against each other? "Managing Historic Sites and Buildings" looks at the choices and tensions that exist in the conservation and interpretation of sites of heritage. In essays discussing a variety of locations - from a prehistoric sacred site to World War II military remains, from a medieval monastery to a 1970s housing estate - contributors look at contemporary concerns and debates about the way that the past is shaped, physically and metaphorically, by these two aspects of heritage management. Arguing that the fundamental purpose of the whole process is to communicate understanding about the human past, the collection explores the crucial relationship between preserving historic places and promoting an awareness of their significance.
List of contents
Introduction Contexts for Collaboration and Conflict, David Baker; Chapter 1 Visiting Avebury, Chris Gingell; Chapter 2 Hadrian’s Wall, Christopher Young; Chapter 3 Community Archaeology, David Start; Chapter 4 Setting and Structure, Glyn Coppack; Chapter 5 Norton Priory, Margaret Warhurst; Chapter 6 The Tradition of Historical Consciousness, Gill Chitty; Chapter 7 Churches and Cathedrals, David Baker; Chapter 8 Brodsworth Hall, Martin Allfrey; Chapter 9 Time to ‘Leap the Fence’, Krystyna Campbell; Chapter 10 Preservation, Restoration and Presentation of the Industrial Heritage, Marion Blockley; Chapter 11 Conservation of Twentieth-Century Buildings, Catherine Croft, Elain Harwood; Chapter 12 Conserving Recent Military Remains, John Schofield;
About the author
Baker, David; Chitty, Gill
Summary
Managing Historic Sites and Buildings looks at the choices and the tensions that exist in conservation and interpretation of the heritage. Preservation and presentation are central activities, arguably means and ends in the conservation of the historic environment. But are they self-reinforcing or do they work against each other? In a series of essays which span form prehistoric sacred site to Second World war military remains, from medieval monastery to 1970s housing estate, we look at contemporary concerns and debates about the way the past is shaped, physically and metaphorically , by these two aspects of heritage management.
Starting from the position that the fundamental purpose of the whole process is to communicate understanding about the human past, these essays examine how far the ideologies, strategies, tactics and techniques of preservation and presentation are mutually supportive. the success of integrated approaches that are inclusive of social, economic and green environmental concerns is understood, but the value of developing truly sustainable management for individual historic places is only just becoming evident. At the heart of such an approach lies a crucial relationship between the activity of preserving historic places and of promoting understanding of their significance.
