ABSTRACT

The paper proposes an open and critical reflection upon the apparently opposite concepts of orthodoxy and heresy within restoration. The basic hypothesis is that these two words, deeply and historically linked to Religions, cannot be separated in a rough way. You can recognize an orthodox position only if some heretical attack against it menaces its authority and continuity. On the other hand, you can realize the existence of a heretical approach to the faced problems, in any field (mainly in the religious more than the scientific or technic ones) only if a true orthodoxy does exist, ruling it. For these reasons the paper will develop an open and secular argumentation on these terms and around their expressions within the conservation/restoration environment, taking into account its research, theoretical and professional expressions and results. The aim is to clarify some issues, some crucial points of the present debate and situation in order to open it towards a new phase of the theoretical (doctrinal?) elaboration about conservation/restoration. There is in fact a strong need to overpass some consolidated fences or precincts that, sometimes, artificially separate our world, whilst it is perhaps more what we have in common than what separates or distinguishes all of us from other external worlds and contributions (or expectations) that are perhaps less interested in the real care of our heritage and its transmission towards the future.

Parole chiave/Key-words:

Heresy, Orthodoxy, Architectural Restoration/Conservation, Projects