Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation: Discourses, Opinions, Experiences in Europe, South and East Asia (Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context)

By: Niels Gutschow and Katharina Weiler

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Synopsis: The book contributes to a recontextualizationof authenticity by investigating how this value is created, reenacted, andassigned. Over the course of the last century, authenticity figured as themajor parameter for the evaluation of cultural heritage. It was adopted inlocal and international charters and guidelines on architectural conservationin Europe, South and East Asia. Throughout this period, the concept of authenticity was constantlyredefined andtransformed to suit new cultural contexts and local concerns. This volumepresents colonial and postcolonial discourses, opinions, and experiences in thefield of architectural heritage conservation and the use of site-specificpractices based on representative case studies presented by art historians,architects, anthropologists, and conservationists from Germany, Nepal, India,China, and Japan. With more than 180 illustrations and a collection ofterminologies in German, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Nevari and Nepali, classicalChinese and standard Mandarin, and Japanese, these cross-culturalinvestigations document the processual re-configuration of the notion ofauthenticity. They also show that approaches to authenticity can be specifiedwith key analytical categories from transcultural studies: appropriation,transformation, and, in some cases, refusal.