Nikolaos Maniatis
MuseoTechniki, Athens, Greece
Ekaterini Malea
Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Athens, Greece
Stavroula Rapti
Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Athens, Greece
Nikos Androutsopoulos
Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Athens, Greece
Georgios Panagiaris
Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) of Athens, Greece
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Published in: Current Issues in European Cultural Studies; June 15-17; Norrköping; Sweden 2011
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 62:57, p. 537-547
Published: 2011-11-22
ISBN: 978-91-7519-993-1
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
The traditional role of the conservator has been associated with the preservation of the tangible aspect of cultural heritage. Conservation science has been mainly developing along with material science and conservators have focused their efforts on the preservation of the tangible nature of artefacts. In numerous cases this practice has led to the underestimation of the intangible content of objects of cultural heritage in terms of the conservation methodology and practice applied.
The traditional conservation principle of minimal intervention is gaining new meaning; as we have come to realise that an artefact’s material and structural integrity interrelates and sometimes comes to conflict with possible evidence of significant historical and social memory content. As social memory is related to the experiences of individual members of the society; conservators must develop approaches of documentation and conservation methodologies in order to identify; document and eventually preserve the memory reflections of the epresented societies by preserving the artefact’s intangible content. It becomes apparent that in order to safeguard the artefacts’ social and historical integrity and contribute towards the perception; appreciation and understanding of the cultural heritage; the conservators have to preserve and document the artefact’s intangible content that reflects social memory.
