The restoration of monuments, buildings and works

The restoration of antique works, monuments andthat we should be able to distinguish between the
buildings is a very important sector, especially for aoriginal parts of the work and the parts that have been
country like Italy.restored. This controversy has been an issue since the
  Normal 0 14 false false false IT X-NONE X-NONEbeginning of the restoration activity.
* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTableWe can say that restoration was born at the end of
{mso-style-name:"Tabella normale";the 18th century, following the excavations of
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;Herculaneum and Pompeii, the discovering of Egyptian
mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99;ancient relics and a renewed interest in Greek ancient
mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:"";relics, when people begin to look into the artistic and
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;architectonic works of the past and, as a
mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm;consequence, they begin to be interested also in their
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;restoration and preservation. In the 19th century the
mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%;different points of view on restoration result in two
mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt;separate currents, the historic and the philological
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";restoration. In the first case we start from historical
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;documents to restore the work, in order to make the
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;work appear as it did in the mind of its designer,
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";without considering the changes that there have been
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;through time. The philological restoration is based on
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;the idea that the changes that have been made and
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Restoring meansthat have an artistic value should not be left out, as
bringing back to life those works that have beenthey tell us something about the work. In the first half
damaged or semi-destroyed through time, and this isof the 20th century the work of the restorer is
not an easy activity at all. Any restorer andenriched by new cues also thanks to Giovannoni, who
construction company, no matter if it is a smallpoints out that restoration should be a team job to be
company that deals with unknown works or a restorerdone by architects together with chemists, geologists
that has to renew works that are famous all over theand other experts, in order to give consideration to
world, has to consider many factors before restoring adifferent aspects of the work or building. In the 20th
painting or a monument, and to give consideration alsocentury also other trends and currents develop, as an
to the history of the work itself.evidence of the fact that the debate on restoration
Restoring an architectural or artistic work, especiallyhas not been exhausted yet. Among the best-known
when it is very ancient, does not only mean to cleanand most influential currents there are critical
and repair it, as you would do with any item or building,restoration and the theories of Cesare Brandi, who
it also implies studying its history and consider it asclaimed that it was necessary to look at the work
something which is alive, and which is still telling usfrom both an artistic and a historical point of view.
about its and our past. When people speak aboutIn conclusion, when we deal with the restoration of
restoration, often there are controversies and differentworks and buildings, we are dealing with an issue that
points of view: on the one hand, some people preferis more complicated than it might seem, an issue that
those interventions in which the work of the restorer isdoes not have univocal solutions and theories, but
not visible, on the other hand some other people claimdifferent and contrasting points of view.