PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Discussing principles of conservation
group of objects. However, there is a third and hidden group of
objects, which do not fall into either of the previously mentioned
categories. These are “rubbish”, objects that lose value for years
until re-evaluated by institutions or individuals. 249 Wallpapers
can be generally placed in the first, transient category, which
means that they tend to lose their value over time and become
useless. According to this principle, the destruction of wallpapers
can be seen as the normal end of a process.
However, depending on the change in the observer’s attitude
and education, some objects can acquire new meanings,
becoming worthy of conservation. 250 In the context of the given
thesis, gradually more attention has been given to historic
wallpapers due to increased interest in historic interiors. More
wallpapers are being studied, collected and preserved. Due to
this tendency, historic wallpapers can be classified in the third
category of objects: “rubbish”.
Wallpapers have apparently been subject to a two-way transformation:
from valued decorative objects to debris, and from
debris to precious historic objects. In addition to aesthetic and
historical value, other values, such as educational value, have
been attributed to wallpaper. For example, the manufacturers
of panoramic wallpapers offered a cultural programme for children
and adults in the form of a comic strip on a mural scale.
Panoramic wallpapers stimulated the imagination, they were
instructive, and they were consistent with bourgeois morality. 251
They depicted legends of mythology (e.g. Les Métamorphoses
d’Ovide and Lady of the Lake), morality (e.g. Paul et Virgine), wellknown
literary works (e.g. Orlando Furioso and Don Quixote),
views of exotic places and cultures (e.g. Les Sauvages de la Mer
Pacifique) and historical events (e.g. The Battle of Austerlitz).
On the other hand, educational value can be applied to any
historic wallpaper. Any historic wall cover or decorative scheme
can inform its observer of the prevailing fashion of a certain era,
249
Ingemann, “Object Images and Material Culture – the Construction of Autenticity and
Meaning”, http://www.present-on-site.net/21_rubbish.html.
250
Muños Viñas, Contemporary Theory of Conservation, 57.
251
Nouvel-Kammerer, “Wide Horizons:...”, 102.
142