CWT 4212 ARCHITECTURE AND HERITAGE

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INTRODUCTION TO
ARCHITECTURE AND
HERITAGE

ARCHITECTURE & HERITAGE

CONTENTS

Definition of Architecture
Definition of Heritage/Historical Building & Sites
Definition of Conservation

DEFINITIONS OF ARCHITECTURE

Architecture can mean:

A general term to describe buildings and
other physical structures.
The art and science
ofdesigningbuildingsand
(some)nonbuilding structures.
The style of design and method of
construction of buildings and other
physical structures.
The knowledge of art, science &
technology and humanity.

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
Definitions or scopes of reference in relation to
ancient monuments, heritage sites and buildings of
historical structures as outlined by several
conservation authorities from around the world.
Some direct and indirect definitions and scopes of
reference are as follows:
a) The Oxford Advances Learners Dictionary
defines heritage among others as:
things such as works of art, cultural
achievements and folklore that have been passed
on from earlier generation

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
b) The International Charter for the Conservation
and Restoration of Monument and Sites (the Venice
Charter 1964) outlines:
Article 1: The concept od a historic monument
embraces not only the single architectural work but
also the urban or rural setting in which is found the
evidence of a particular civilization, a significant or
a historic event. This applies not only to great works
of art but also to more modest works of the past
which have acquired cultural significant with the
passing of time.

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
c) The Charter for the Protection and Management
of the Archeological Heritage (1990) outlines the
following:
Article 1 : The archaeological heritage is that
part of the material heritage in respect of which
archaeological methods provide primary
information. It comprises all vestiges of human
existence and consist of places relating to all the
manifestations of human activity abandoned
structures and remains of all kinds (including
subterranean and underwater sites), together with
all the portable cultural material associated with
them.

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
The Principles for the Recording of Monuments,
Groups of Building and Sites (1996) ratified by the
11th ICOMOS General Assembly in Sofia gives the
following :
Cultural Heritage refers to monuments groups of
building and sites of heritage value consisting the
historic or built environment.

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
International Cultural Tourism Charter: Managing
Tourism at Places of Heritage Significance (1999)
oulines :
Heritage is a broad concept and includes the
natural as well as the cultural environment. It
encompasses landscapes, historic places , sites and
built environments as well as biodiversity,
collections, past and continuing cultural practices of
historic, development, forming the essence of
diverse national regional, indigenous and local
identities and is an integral part of modern life. It is
a dynamic reference point and positive instrument
for growth and change. The particular heritage and
collective memory of each locality or community is
irreplaceable and an important foundation for

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
The National Heritage Act 2005 does not offer a
combined definition of heritage building. It does
however define building as:
a building or groups of separate or connected
buildings which because of their homogeneity or
their place in the landscape, are of outstanding
universal value from the point of view of history, art
or science.

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
Definition of Cultural Heritage:
For the purposes of the World Heritage Convention,
the following are considered as "cultural heritage":
Monuments: architectural works, works of
monumental sculpture and painting, elements or
structures of an archaeological nature,
inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of
features, which are of outstanding universal value
from the point of view of history, art or science;
Groups of buildings: groups of separate or
connected buildings which, because of their
architecture, their homogeneity or their place in
the landscape, are of outstanding universal value
from the point of view of history, art or science;

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
Sites: works of man or the combined works of
nature and of man, and areas including
archaeological sites which are of outstanding
universal value from the historical, aesthetic,
ethnological or anthropological points of view.

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
In conclusion, heritage/historical buildings and sites
in our context of discussion cover the following
keywords:
a single architectural work or an urban or rural
setting with evidence of a civilization, a
significant development or a historic event
Places relating to all manifestations of ancient/old
human activity, abandoned structures, and
remains of all kinds
Monument, groups of building and sites of
heritage value
The natural as well as the cultural environment

DEFINITION OF HERITAGE/HISTORICAL
BUILDING & SITES
Landscapes, historic places, sites and built
environment
Groups of separate or connected buildings having
outstanding universal value from the point of
view of history, art and science

DEFINITION OF BUILDING CONSERVATION

According to English Heritage websites,

Conservation is the process of maintaining and
managing change to a heritage asset in a way
that sustains and where appropriate enhances its
significance.
Heritage conservation doesn't mean freezing a
building in time, creating a museum or tying the
hands of property owners so they can't do
anything with their properties. Instead, it seeks to
maintain and thereby increase the value of
buildings by keeping their original built form and
architectural elements, favouring their restoration
rather than replacement and, when restoration is
impossible, recreating scale, period and