PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Discussing principles of conservation
3.1. VALUES OF CONSERVATION OBJECTS
Objects are most commonly preserved because people attribute
several values to them. Most preservation objects have a certain
monetary value, but other values are usually of much greater
relevance to treatment decisions. 238 Two of the main values
attributed to a conservation object are historical and aesthetic
value.
Several theorists have attempted to explain the meaning of
conservation objects through the values attributed to them. One
of these theorists was the prominent Austrian art historian Alois
Riegl (1858–1905). He used the term ”monument” (Denkmal) to
describe a conservation object. 239
Riegl distinguished between two types of monuments: deliberate
monuments that were intended to memorialise certain
events, and unintentional monuments which gained importance
because of historical, artistic or other values attributed to them.
Since a value known as commemorative value (Denkmalwert)
can be attributed to both of them, we call them monuments. In
the case of deliberate monuments, the commemorative value
is dictated to us by others, while we define the value of unintentional
monuments ourselves. 240 According to Riegl, values
attributed to monuments can be divided into two groups: 1)
commemorative values (Denkmalwert), which include age value
(Alterswert), historical value and intended memorial value, and
2) present day values, which include use value, art value, newness
value and relative art value. 241 Besides the commemorative
238
Barbara Applebaum, Conservation Treatment Methodology (Oxford / Burlington:
Elsevier Ltd., 2007), 86.
239
Salvador Muños Viñas, Contemporary Theory of Conservation (Oxford: Elsevier, 2005),
37.
240
Alois Riegl, “The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Essence and Its Development” in
Historical and Philosophical Issues in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage. Readings
in Conservation, ed. Nicholas Stanley Price, M. Kirby Talley Jr. and Alessandra Melucco
Vaccaro (Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, The J. Paul Getty Trust, 1996), 72.
241
Joseph King, “Aesthetic in Integrated Conservation Planning: A Consideration of Its
Value” in Urban Space and Urban Conservation as an Aesthetic Problem, Lectures
presented at the international conference in Rome 23rd–26th October 1997, edited
by Gregers Algreen-Ussing et al. (Rome: “L’Erma” di Bretschneider, 2000), 22. Accessed
February 26, 2013, http://books.google.ee/books?id=4WoeN37LonYC&pg=PA22&lpg=
PA22&dq=alois+riegl,+conservation&source=bl&ots=tHgs9nYKMz&sig=_
DgHGtNNN3JI46PSSfxDZpcdDEc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4RItUa-2JcbF0QXLxIHwBA&redir_
esc=y#v=onepage&q=alois%20riegl%2C%20conservation&f=false.
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