Mr  Abdi Ardekani Hojjatollah  will  present his P.H.D thesis on "Critical Analysis of Architectural Conservation’s History" in Iran at 15:30 P.M on 6 March 2016.

Abstract

 

In recent years,  the vast direct and indirect demolition and ignorance of historical buildings has been the main dilemma of  the field of architecural conservation and restoration. This problem is deriven basically from the  objective and subjective changes in the "value position" of historical buildings, not only by professionals but also  ordinary people. All that is called dilemma is not only relavent to different aspects of conservation field,  while, in order to reach an omniscient conception of the topic, it is necessary to refer to social, economic, political and cultural fields. So many quetions can be proposed, which indicates the complexity and multidimentionality of  its situation. Hence, researching the problem of  coservation and restoration&#39s dilemma cannot be simplistic and one-dimentional, following the linear causaliy pattern. On the other hand, this problem  statement has been itself abstracted from a pathological point of view. This pathological view, presupposing the high unreachable value position of historical heritage and therefore considering all kind of ignorance, demolition and destruction as an improper action, arises from a knowledge and ability system that can itself be questioned on its basis.

The problem of architectual conservation and restoration in Iran is the problem of its History. In this research, the efforts were to concieve and alluminate the problem at the discursive level, putting forward two basic quetions: 1. What has been the process of continuity and discontinuity in architectural conservation and restoration  in Iran?  2. What has been the dominant discourses in its history? So the main debate is on the lack of discursive command of conservation regarding the value position of historical buildings, with which I have coped by periodizing its process and constructing the prevalent discourses of each period. Critical discourse analysis has been applied , in which the discursive resouses such as restoration reports of historical buildings,  laws and rules of the field, semi structured interviews with prominant experienced figures, organizations and institutes charts and activities and the socio-political context of 50 years of the presence of modern coservation in Iran has been analysed.

Genesis of the history of conservation and restoration is firstly investigated from different aspects including legal and organization, along with the international relationhips and  restoration executions. Then, in order to reach the dominant discourses, socio-economic and political context has been interpreted and reflected on a timeline parallel to historical events of the conservation field. Interaction of the social, political and economic history and conservation field did broadened the horizons of the research and prepared the condition for critical discursive reading of the history of coservation in Iran. Two main discourses according to the historical background of Iran has been constructed in the modern history of  conservation in Iran:  Cultural Heritage Discourse and Cultural Capital Discourse. Both of  them has been formed disrupturing from the pre-modern ReVitalization Discourse (before the 40th decade).

The following reseach, by constructing the dominant discoureses in the history of conservation and making the best use of previuos executive experiences, can prepare the scientific seed-bed for future studies and decision-makings and also edition of architectural conservation and restoration charter more suitable for Iran.