Preserving historical and cultural treasures

Protecting from deterioration or loss highly valued or unique examples of local, national and global cultural heritage. Preservation work includes: the designating and restoring of national treasures; and protecting manuscripts, historical documents, architectural landmarks, fine art, decorative and applied art, and archaeological finds and sites. In some cases, persons with special skills are designated "living cultural treasures".

The preservation of historical and cultural treasures became widespread during the Renaissance at which time there was great interest in ancient art and collecting. Laws forbidding export of treasures were instituted first in Greece and later in Egypt and other countries, often after vast quantities had been transported to Western museums. Preservation of architectural landmarks becomes a public issue as urban areas undergo reconstruction.

Preservation work entails four major areas: research on the study, classification, cataloguing and listing of objects; legislation to designate an object as an historical or cultural monument or to protect it from destruction, alteration, or export; conservation and restoration work to return treasures to more original condition; and education of the public about historical and cultural treasures.

1. Through preservation, people can have tangible symbols of their past.

2. Artists of today may be inspired or informed by artefacts.

3. Tourists are attracted to sites illustrating the heritage of an area.

1. Vast amounts of money are overused on historical artefacts at the expense of preserving contemporary culture.

2. Language, customs and arts of ignored, minority cultures may disappear in the near future.

3. Museums and preservation societies in wealthy nations continue to import cultural treasures while the people themselves from poorer nations have no access to their own treasures.

1. Preserving history
2. Preserving heritage
3. Preserving cultural heritage

1. Safeguarding archaeological sites
2. Restoring local historical sites
3. Researching preservation of cultural property
4. Preserving public archives
5. Preserving documentary heritage
6. Facilitating emergency preservation of cultural heritage
7. Encouraging development of museums
8. Conserving built heritage
9. Combatting illicit traffic in cultural property
10. Cataloguing art
11. Campaigning for the protection of national monuments

1. Promoting cultural property

1. Restoring cultural property to its country of origin
2. Accumulating cultural property

1. Destroying historic buildings

1. Threatened monuments and historic sites

1. Self-preservation
2. Protection
3. Preservation
4. Overprotectiveness
5. Heritage

1. International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
2. Indigenous cultural heritage
3. Commentary: Conserving Cultural Heritage — the Tangible and the Intangible
4. World Heritage
5. Cultural Heritage Conservation and Sustainability
6. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
7. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
8. Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage
9. Heritage and Conservation Strategies: Understanding the Justifications and Implications