THE OBJECT AND THE SUBJECT OF PROTECTION IN ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE STUDIES AND CONSERVATION METHODOLOGY (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF AN ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENT AND AN URBAN PLANNING MONUMENT)

Abstract

The article examines terminological definitions within the field of heritage monument protection and restoration. Critical remarks made by heritage conservation practitioners and scholars regarding certain terms used in heritage studies and conservation practice, particularly those employed in legislative and regulatory acts, as well as their negative impact on practical measures for protecting cultural heritage sites, underscore the relevance of this issue. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to define the fundamental categories of architectural heritage studies and conservation methodology, in particular, the definitions of an architectural monument, an urban planning monument, an object of protection, a subject of protection, and related concepts. Based on an analytical review of scholarly research on the subject, a thorough examination of terminological definitions contained in international legal instruments of the Ukrainian state, and the author’s methodology of morphological analysis of architectural and urban heritage objects, the essence of these entities as objects of protection is determined, and corresponding definitions of an architectural monument and an urban planning monument are formulated. Thus, an architectural monument is defined as an object of architectural and construction activity created in the past that has survived fully or partially in an authentic state and, in conjunction with a historically established environment, possesses social value, is recognised as a source of historical and cultural information, and represents a work of architectural art. An urban planning monument is understood as an ensemble, complex, estate, block, street, or another territorial and spatial formation which, in combination with a characteristic natural landscape or anthropogenic environment within defined territorial boundaries and compositional integrity, through the contemporary existence of a historically inherited spatial framework of development, attests to the urban planning culture of a particular historical period and serves as a source of historical and cultural information. Architectural monuments and urban planning monuments are regarded as objects of protection within defined parameters. With regard to the subject of protection of a monument, its determination should be guided by the intended purpose of the applied conservation measures; accordingly, the subject of protection is the part of the monument, or the monument as a whole, to which a particular conservation measure is applied.