ABSTRACT

The paper aims at analyzing what is orthodox or heretical within the Conservation Process. The investigation will necessarily start from the recognition of the meanings adopted for orthodoxy, heresy and heterodoxy. It will be essential to pay specific attention to the ideal and cultural components of Conservation, as the reflection should begin with the fact that the way of thinking is the guide for every operational choice. The (orthodox or heretic?) position of the whole discipline of heritage conservation becomes weaker if intervention is understood as a merely technical action. This leads to the risk of an instrumental exploitation of restoration by subjects who ignore that cultural heritage, as preserved with its set of values and significances, is an engine for the creation of communities able to ferry into the contemporaneity the heritage inherited from the past. The question is whether this statement should be considered an heresy or rather the hard attempt to put into practice what the discipline of Conservation preaches. The relationship between Heresy and Orthodoxy will be dealt with going into the following issues: -theoretical fundamentals of Conservation; -the current approach – mainstream – and Planned and Preventive Conservation; The proposal aims at highlighting the existing link between the Conservation theory, meant as a process, and the praxis, pointing out the heretical and orthodox components.

Parole chiave/Key-words: Heresy, Orthopraxis, Conservation process, Preventive and Planned Conservation