Sustainable use of cultural objects: an opportunity and a responsibility for conservation

The need to ensure public access to cultural heritage, together with the need to continue using historic buildings, either for the functions for which they are designed (churches, residences) or to contain new functions (museums, public buildings, etc.) involves a number of design choices involving great responsibility for conservation; the sustainability of such choices should be carefully assessed for a number of reasons. The use of historical architecture cannot distort these buildings, but must be compatible with the historical and artistic values they testify to; the new functions should be subjected to conservation requirements, including authenticity, and must consequently be consistent with the principles of monumental restoration. This paper shows, through a series of real examples, some problems involved in compatible fruition and adaptation to new uses. These examples include not only borderline cases relating to more intensively visited monumental contexts (in which the relevant impact of tourism distorts perception of the monument and impedes qualitative fruition), but also some lesser known cases, perhaps more subject to risks arising from inappropriate use. In both cases, conflict arises between the requirement of accessibility and use, on the one hand, and the requirement of safeguarding and preservation, on the other. The aim is to develop, through comparison and reflection, an analytical method for evaluating the compatibility of use, which, despite the specific nature of each case, may have an overall value and be applicable to other situations.