Venice charter and the development of authenticity

Abstract

Authenticity has been a concern for many centuries. In the 19th century, during the restoration interventions on Notre Dame, it was obvious that authenticity was linked solely to the original material of the monument. It was in the Venice Charter of 1964, that there was an attempt to define authenticity. Since then, the perception and understanding of what is authentic has changed. This shift in meaning is partly due to changes in the sanctioned definitions of chartered documents, which influenced the values society attributed to their heritage. Values counteracted this by becoming wider in scope. Though the Venice Charter mentioned authenticity, it did not specify the attributes heritage should maintain to be considered authentic. This was to change when intangible and tangible heritage were considered as criteria for inscription in World Heritage Sites, particularly with the pivotal contribution from the Japanese experience of intangible heritage when they joined the World Heritage Convention. Once intangible and tangible heritage were considered for inscription in World Heritage Sites, authenticity was pushed to consider other attributes than materiality alone. The understanding of authenticity was developed through discussions regarding World Heritage Sites like Abu Simbel, the Historic Centre of Warsaw and Mostar Bridge, which were enlisted as World Heritage Sites after major interventions or reconstruction works were carried out on them. The article concludes with a discussion regarding how the characteristics of the material used, in particular in a case of reconstruction, could influence the authentic or truthful experience of a historic site.