Regular building maintenance and long-term conservation in ancient times
| Author(s): |
Maxime l'Héritier
Charles Davoine Hélène Dessales Philippe Bernardi |
|---|---|
| Medium: | conference paper |
| Language(s): | English |
| Conference: | 6th International Congress on Construction History (6ICCH 2018), July 9-13, 2018, Brussels, Belgium |
| Published in: | Building Knowledge, Constructing Histories [2 vols.] |
| Page(s): | 31-38 |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Abstract: | Making a building last is a necessary preoccupation requiring a more or less regular upkeep. Maintenance practices were however not formalised before the early modern period. This paper aims at overviewing these practices by taking several examples from Antiquity to the post Middle Ages, to apprehend the technical, human and institutional processes used to organize, manage and plan this maintenance. Despite a lack of distinction in the vocabulary, different types of actions can be identified, which usually do not fall to the same person or institution. Roman law and postmediaeval custom indeed already isolate several degrees of financial responsibility. Several examples testify as well of an anticipation of the building deterioration by scheduled works or specific technical solutions, along with a reflection on precise risks and their management. Maintenance however did not specifically aim at preserving a monument's form, as a wide range of actions were implemented in that purpose, sometimes dealing with a form of patrimonial consciousness. |
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data sheet - Reference-ID
10078146 - Published on:
23/09/2018 - Last updated on:
05/03/2019
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