Wow! eBook
Romantic Modernism: Nostalgia in the World of Conservation
Author(s): Wim W.F. Denslagen (Author)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: May 12, 2009
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 264 pages
- ISBN-10: 9089641033
- ISBN-13: 9789089641038
Book Description
In the world of architectural conservation, there is little tolerance for reconstructing or even protecting historic facades when everything behind is modern, and even less for reconstructing a building that has been completely destroyed. These offenses are considered lies against history. In this thoughtful, revealing work, conservation expert Wim Denslagen traces this predilection for honesty to the legacy of Functionalism, a Romantic-era movement that denounced the building of pseudo-architecture in favor of a new, rational form of building. With detailed analyses of headline-making restoration projects from Bruges to Berlin, Denslagen shows that the adoption of these romantic values by conservationists gave rise to a new wave of modern additions and transformations.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Wim Denslagen is professor of the history and theory of conservation at Utrecht Universityand author of Heritage or Heresy: Preservation and Destruction of Religious Art and Architecture in Europe (Palgrave 2008).
