Okay, welcome to the next lecture.
You remember last lecture we have discussed
the various approaches of conservation.
And we also mentioned that there is no hard
and fast rule; it has to be decided case by
case.
So, it is case specific.
So, if there is no rule, and so what are the
guidelines, and what guides one team or conservators
or a conservator to decide that which approach
has to be taken, and for that we have to understand
the ethics of conservation.
So, today we will discuss about the ethics
of conservation, these are not actually rules
or acts, but these are guiding principles.
So, we have to see it in that context.
So, let us see what is the role of the conservator.
The conservator, conservation as especially
in the twentieth century because professional
conservation developed in only nineteen-twentieth
century, developed in the twentieth century
traditionally been involved into two aspects,
one is the scientific practice which the conservator
applied, and the technical skill also it is
very important to preserve the cultural material.
So, if we understand these two aspects and
if you see, so we are seeing the scientific
practice is very important, and the technical
skill is very important, and that actually
predominated the conservation practice or
the role of the conservator.
Now, if we try to see that the example, so
this is what generally a lot of documents,
lot of guidelines have been prepared to where
the major aspect is the science and technology,
and how it is applied to the conservation
practice.
Now, in that case, so as I said the conservation
and the scientific practice and technical
skill, so these actually predominated the
conservation scenario.
So, construction, preservation and transmission
of the cultural knowledge that actually is
the major role of the conservator, so one
should not think that the role of the conservator
is to just apply the technical knowledge,
and to preserve the structure, it is the transmission
of the cultural knowledge that is very important.
And while a conservator applies the technical
knowledge, one should be that should be kept
in mind that he or she is actually through
the process of conservation is transmitting
the cultural knowledge which is embodied in
that cultural activity artifact.
Let us take the example of the Humayun’s
Tomb.
It is a World Heritage site, and it is the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture project, and it
is also very well known best practice because
it is the Nizamuddin Renewal Initiative because
it has incorporated the craftsmen which who
actually stay in the vicinity and who have
been traditionally practicing some of them.
And to involve them in the conservation practice
going out of the purview of the Archaeological
Survey of India involving not only the local
craftsmen, but also the craftsmen from other
countries, and involving the entire community
that has become a very important aspect of
the Humayun’s Tomb restoration process.
And it continuously that community revival,
involving them the community, training them,
so these are all very important part of that.
It is not, so, if you see the Humayun’s
Tomb is just not preserving the structure
or restoring the structure is important.
But it is that what are the cultural knowledge
how to train them, how to transmit the knowledge
to the craftsmen, training them, and also
interpreting them and bringing them to the
future generation present generation that
has we played a very important role.
So, role of conservator is actually that.
So, as we can see here the evidences of the
past knowledge, so the evidence of the past
knowledge that is what is very important.
And this means which this may be transmitted
into the future, this becomes the practice
for the conservation.
And while conservator is doing that he has
to understand this scientific foundation based
on a rationalistic principle, and as there
is no hard and fast rule one has to be guided
by this code of ethics.
So, these are very important part of the conservation
practice when one has to understand these
two aspect of the scientific foundation and
the codes of ethics.
So, what are the code of ethics, and what
is that.
So, these are the two almost arms of a conservation
practice.
So, the code of ethics is necessary process
of articulating collective ideas.
So, here the individual dogma, individual
aspiration, individual decision of the conservation
person or the practitioner is not important.
One has to understand that they are actually
conveying the collective ideas of a community,
and also that has to be the scientific approach
has to be based on evidence and hard facts.
So, these two things have to be very clearly
borne in mind when we talk.
Let us take the example of the York Minster,
I mean I will explain the case that it was
actually a very important cathedral in Yorkshire
in York and which got burnt down.
And in the process of burnt down what happened
is that, the rose window that got completely
burned.
So, this rose window what we see here is actually
got completely burnt.
And while it got burnt, fragments thousands
of fragments of glass pieces were there.
Just before it got burnt it was restored.
So, it actually did not fall down, but it
has minute cracks, thousands of cracks which
developed.
As you can see that the entire sort of a burning,
the entire thing got burnt out.
Now, the question became or the issue became
that should the new rose window a stained
glass window will be built there and put up
or the fragments are there which would should
be restored or not.
In that case Peter Gibson which is actually
very well known person in this bit, the person
who actually founded the York Glazier’s
Trust, he decided that a consolidation process.
So, what he did is actually he injected a
consolidate into that fragments, because they
were all in place, but they were the crack.
So, the crack sort of filled up the cracks,
and they put the fragments into almost sandwiched
into two pieces of glass, so that the original
pieces remain and put it back.
So, what we see today actually is the restored
original stone glass or the stained glass
window and by the process of consolidation.
Now, here what we can see is that the rationalistic
approach also became very important, and also
the code of ethics.
So, these two arms actually guided that what
should be the process.
It needed a lot of scientific accrued skill
training and other, but also that what should
be done is guided by the code of ethics.
So, these are very important aspects of the
conservation practice.
Now, how did it all start?
So, let us see the genesis of the conservation
ethics.
It is actually John Ruskin; and later on William
Morris, we will see that later on when we
will discuss about the history of conservation.
He sort of was a leading art English art critic
of the Victorian era.
And he had a great influence on the idea of
the conservation ethics.
And two things actually were treated as a
very important; one is the age value and another
is the unity of feeling.
This unity of feeling or the integration of
the old structure are very important part
of the conservation ethics and that is gradually
the foundation of the ethics of the conservation
practice that what should be done actually
started.
So, conservation, thus, is a practice that
focuses on the preservation of the cultural
knowledge, where one must understand we are
not talking about just the preservation of
a structure, we are talking about the preservation
of the cultural knowledge in objects.
So, these objects of buildings or artifacts,
they actually embodied the cultural knowledge
which has been transmitted through generation.
And the authentication of which creates an
inseparable bond between the conservator and
the conservation architect.
So, here the conservator or the role of the
conservator becomes a sort of in between the
knowledge and the conservation objects, so
that is very important.
So, the conservator and the conservation objects,
and the bond between them and now is sort
of a creating that is an, a very important
aspect when we talk about the ethics of conservation.
So, authentication as we say the authentication
is very important.
The authentication and the conservator, and
the conservator object, and this, the bond
between them.
So, this is a very important aspects to be
understood when we talk about that.
And let us take an example of Sir Marshall.
Sir Marshall was the Director-General of Archaeological
Survey of India as we can see in the beginning
of the twentieth century.
And he is the person who was responsible for
conservation restoration of many of our traditional
structure, Sanchi Stupa is one example, I
think even Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and many
other structure he sort of was responsible.
And when we are talking of the restoration
of Sanchi Stupa.
So, as you can see that there is an old photograph
of Sanchi Stupa.
You can see that what we see today of Sanchi
Stupa, it does not match with the old photograph
so that means, he actually embodied some of
his knowledge about what Sanchi Stupa could
have been and put the umbrella and the other
structures on the top.
So, his ideology, his thought process what
he thought that should be ideal for the restoration
of Sanchi Stupa is very important.
And so, here when we talk about Sanchi Stupa
restoration, and that conserved object has
a relationship with Sir Marshall’s ideology
of what restoration means so that is and that
is a bonding what we are talking about.
So, conservation thus is established as both
ethical and scientific.
So, again and again, I am saying that these
two parts are inseparable.
If you see that not this particular sort of
a structure, this is a ceiling painting in
Coochbehar Palace, which is under Archaeological
Survey of India they have restored it.
Now, if you see this painting as we can see
that that what we see here this part, this
is a restored part because it got damaged.
So, Archaeological Survey of India restored
it.
Now, this actually is not matching with the
original part.
And these type of restoration is not so authentic
and it is not desirable also that to it could
have been left like that partly whatever is
that so that kept.
So, that putting a new painting there, it
was not very desirable in that case and as
you can see that it is actually not matching
very much.
So, these are actually these techniques may
be possible there are lot of techniques of
cleaning of painting another thing.
But what should be adopted in a particular
case which scientific principle should be
adopted and applied it actually is guided
by the ethics that is why we are saying that
they are actually very inseparable parts of
the conservation practice.
Now, when we are talking about the conservation
ethics also is important to understand that
there is the influence of the particular setting,
because case to case we said it varies.
Now, when we are talking about settings how
communication and cultural memory influence
the national identities.
So, from one culture to another culture, one
nation to one nation, from one community to
another community, the principles and ideology
may vary.
So, one has to understand that and in spite
of the technical knowledge and expertise,
one has to understand that and ethics are
also guided by that.
So, actually, when we talk about conservation
we talk about actually create a shared sense
of cultural memory.
So, this also we must understand, this shared
sense of cultural memory is very important.
If you remember that Tombstone which in the
Australia we talked about that how it is sort
of a created a conflict between two sort of
communities and how it was resolved.
And so, the shared sense of cultural memory
it has to be very it is very important to
understand that.
And impact on the ethical course of the conservator.
So, all these things and how it is impacting
the ethical course on the conservator is very
important to understand.
For example, we have talked about the Shinto
Shrines in Japan, where every 20 years the
shrines are being constructed, and which is
acceptable it is a part of the tradition.
This shrine is actually for 4th century B.C,
but what we see the structure is actually
not very old is very new, but it is a part
of the Shinto culture.
Whereas, so it is totally new.
Where we also saw that the Warsaw City Center
how it has been reconstructed because of a
particular community’s aspiration, the spirit
what they wanted to do, so that is why we
have to understand that a conservator has
to be guided by the ethical course which is
also dependent on a particular context and
a particular setting.
Now, when we are talking about the genesis
of the conservation ethics as we say that
it started with John Ruskin then followed
by William Morris, but it got sort of a codified
after the Second World War.
Because due to the Second World War a lot
of devastation happened, a lot of heritage
structure got demolished.
And after the World War 2, thus there were
official bodies were created that codified
a set of values.
And first was the Charter of Athens, first
of the Charter of Athens in 1931, and it was
followed by the Charter of Venice.
So, this Venice Charter is very important
in formulating course in order to create a
common ground.
So, that in spite of irrespective of which
culture, there are certain common principles
which sort of guides.
And Venice Charter as we say that it is not
really an act, they are not rules, but it
is sort of a guiding principles which sort
of guides a conservator what should be done
in a particular case.
So, this is very important to understand Venice
Charter, we will discuss sometimes in detail
later on.
So, let us take one by one some of the standards
of ethics which actually started or codified
after the Venice Charter in 1964.
And then each and every country has their
own charter and others to guide that, but
Venice Charter is almost a very common ground,
it establishes a common ground.
There are very few articles are there, but
I am not talking about Venice Charter now,
I am just referring Sir Bernard Fielden’s
and we are talking about some of the almost
like thumb rules for the ethical codes.
So, first one the condition of the building
before any intervention and all methods and
material used during the treatment must be
fully documented.
It is not just a measured drawing.
It is a proper documentation or a condition
mapping for the structure, the structure before
intervention, and during the intervention
what happened, which material, where each
and everything must be painstakingly documented
for the future generation this is a very important
part of any conservation process.
For example, if you see here is the Saint
Luke’s Church in London, a condition survey
drawing with the gridline.
Now, it is a, the measured drawing definitely
has been done, but the key defects has been
annotated into the drawing to convey the scope
of the repair.
The blue shading areas represents the stone
areas of stonework which are well bonded to
the big structure behind.
Areas of white represent the voids of the
stonework, so on, so on.
There will be a lot of drawings, photographs,
documents, statement all of these sort of
a very important to understand that at what
state the structure was found, what was the
status, what are the different types of decay,
and damage.
And then during the conservation process what
really has been done, stone by stone, brick
by brick, element by element everything has
been documented as sort of a holistically
as possible, and all that sort of a with whatever
a method which is more suitable for that particular
restoration process.
Second point it talks about the historic evidence
must not be destroyed falsified or removed.
If you see here the Sun temple of Konark,
and we can see here that whereas this one
is quite in a good stage, but this particular
one is not in such a good state.
There are some sort of a decay which sort
of a happen, but nobody is trying to or even
if you see this part, this part also this
is not there.
But nobody is trying to replace that or even
nobody is trying to remove that this part,
this part nobody is trying to remove that
and replace that with a proper thing.
Where the craftsmanship or the technical know-
how may be possible available it is available
still the craftsmen can build that, but this
is these is taken as a historic evidence.
So, this is actually ethics says that this
is not a desirable things not to fill up,
until and unless it is required or essential
for preserving the structure.
Like third ethical code says any intervention
must be minimum necessary that when we talked
about the approaches we talked about that.
Any intervention must be minimum.
If just taking care of the environment is
possible we should not do the repair; if the
repair is enough we should not to the, another
consolidation.
If the consolidation is enough, we should
not do the restoration.
So, step by step one has to sort of a proceed.
So, the guiding principle is that the minimum
intervention.
Now, again if we talk about the Konark Sun
Temple, and if you see that case for example,
if you see this one.
You can see that there are certain parts,
these parts which sort of actually is not
desirable I mean because there are certain
problems in that.
But if you see these parts, these parts of
there, they are quite harmonic they have taken
a minimum one, they have tried to match the
material from far it actually not making very,
very disastrous scenario.
So, what we see that this type of this intervention
or preservation is not actually desirable,
whereas these probably by because they have
taken the profile this is more or less a correct
way of preserving the structure or keeping
the structure for posterity.
So, any intervention must be minimum.
And any intervention must be governed by unswerving
respect for the aesthetic historical and physical
integrity of the cultural property.
Now, we are talking about integrity now we
will talk that in detail.
So, this aesthetical historical and physical
integrity, they would have to be understood
very well.
We, in the last example, in the last example
we saw that what we saw here, is the, this
integrity is not maintained; whereas, in this
case, the integrity is maintained physical,
and both aesthetics and historical.
So, these are have to be decided case by case
and as we say that the most important thing
to understand that we are dealing with the
historical structures, so the respect for
that structure has to be there.
I generally give an analogy for example, you
love your grandmother or grandfather, okay
now if you like just suddenly look at the
young age photograph of your grandmother,
she probably was very beautiful with black
hair and other thing, now probably she has
white hair and other thing, you respect her
you love her.
But you would not like to say that ok, you
wear a wig, or you dye your hair, or you have
to be straight as you looked at that time,
no one has to understand that she has aged.
She has to age gracefully as much as possible
you one has to help her to keep in proper
health, help her in the other thing, keeping
good spirit and not to take her back to when
she was 16 years or 20 years or in her younger
age.
One has to accept that.
And then in that stage how best the building
can be preserved.
So, one and that is what we call the respect
for the age.
And one again I am saying the integrity of
the cultural property for example, if you
see here Sarnath, this is I mean this is a
Stupa there with a lot of structure some have
sort of about demolished, it is here.
But here the setting is important, the structures
whatever stage they are is important to keep
them as it is and that is very important to
keep them and that need to be take care of
the surrounding, the ground treatment, the
visitors movement everything comes within
that.
So, that is one of the very important part
of when we are talking about the conservation
of a structure, group of structures or an
area.
Any proposed intervention should be reversible.
And this is also another thing even if conservation
ethic say that we can sort of used an improved
or a modern technique which must be tested
because the conservation or the old structure
cannot be treated as a guinea pig but one
has to understand it should be reversible.
Because something has happened, but you some
field in future some more advanced technique
means sort of been discovered and so one has
to be reversible technique, that is a very
important part.
And at least not a prejudice whatever the
intervention in turn, it should not prejudice
a future intervention whenever this may become
necessary.
And not hinder the possibility of later access
to all evidence incorporated in that object.
So, these are almost a guiding principles
for intervention in an historical structure.
For example, if you see this particular case
there each and every element has been sort
of what should be done, and which hole, and
which color each and every decision has been
incorporated and with after a proper decision
has been written there, before the conservation
has been taken care of.
So, again we are continuing with the proposed
intervention along maximum amount of existing
material to be retained.
This is again that there may be a part of
the wall which has the own plaster, and it
will be easier if you remove that old plaster
and plaster the old wall, but it may be difficult,
but still it is desirable that the old plaster
be retained.
We have seen some of the example in Pompeii
and other that whatever the old plaster is
there if they can be retained by consolidation
and other process retained that.
It may not look beautiful, but that is not
the objective of the conservation practice.
Be harmonious in color, tone, texture, form
and scale, if additions are necessary but
should be less noticeable than the original
material while at the same time.
You remember when we are talking about the
Konark Sun Temple that we saw that that it
was very noticeable that the new material
has been added.
There are very good example, Archaeological
Survey of India very well preserves the things.
So, here we take the example of the Mukteswar
Temple in Bhubaneswar Odisha.
And where we can see that it is there has
been restoration, there has been some new
element, there has been some sort of a measures
have been taken, but the way that has been
integrated with the site and the restoration
process.
It is a very good example one of the best
practice of this beautiful structure of Odishan
style of architecture.
Now, we are again continuing any proposed
intervention should not be undertaken by a
conservator, a restorator, who are insufficiently
trained or experienced unless they obtain
competent advice.
For example, I mean when we go to a hospital
we always say that the doctor, the who has
the license and other which has the experience
that should be treated because one is dealing
with a human life or even taking a journey
by a flight we need an experienced captain
or a pilot.
Again when we are talking about the old structure
and the conservation, one must understand
that these are irreplaceable and so the person
who is doing the intervention should be an
experienced one.
And for that the training is important then
here we can see that Insitu Mosaic Conservation.
A technician training at the site of Tunisia
where they are talking about they are being
trained.
So, this is a very important part we have
to train the future generation in the proper
techniques, and again the guided by the ethics
and which has to be discussed through the
various repeated discussion, with the proper
documentation, authentic evidence and others.
So, but all said and done with all these standards
or ethics or the technical skill there will
be cases there are cases where they will be
very unique where we do not have a very sort
of a set practice.
So, each and every case is a learning experience.
So, some problems are unique and have to be
solved from the first principle on a trial
and error basis.
And one has to be more cautious during that.
And this is an example of a beautiful structure
in one of the zamindar family in a very small
village or small town in a Kharar in West
Medinipur.
There are beautiful sort of what we call the,
were climb terrace of work, and there are
the stones which gives the date which is an
archival document.
And these are very important part of the structures
which are still there, which are retained
there.
Whereas, some part of the structure has sort
of a decayed so much.
So, in this type of structure or whatever
one has to be very cautiously deal with that
and to be guided not only by the scientific
techniques, documents and other, but by the
ethics and the codes of conservation.
And each case is an unique experience and
a learning experience.
So one has to work under the proper experienced
conservator and with a proper guidance, and
proper discussion, and proper documentation
one can intervene the building.
And these are the generally what we can see
the thumb rules or the some of the codes for
the ethics what guides the conservation practice.
So, we had talked about how the conservation
Venice Charter and other.
So, in our next course, we will talk about
that how actually the conservation movement
what we see today actually took shape, the
history of the conservation movement.
Thank you.
