On the occasion of the reprint of this unfindable Catalogue, which
have been requested by scholars and professionals for a long time,
I consider myself very pleased to have contributed to the
organization and the preparation of the Exhibition at Palazzo Grassi
and to have today an opportunity to promote the following edition
(the third one) after more than forty years. In spite of the
understandable difficulties and the evident incompleteness of this
undertaking (made possible thanks to the kind willingness and
concern of the ICOMOS Committees of many Countries), being
able to document and compare many different experiences (due to
latitudes, contexts and cultures), as well as contributing to the
increasing diffusion of the process of knowledge of the great
collective effort undertaken all over the world for the protection and
the increase in value of monumental works, it is undoubtedly of
primary importance for the progress of the debate on the discipline
and the specific procedures, technologies and techniques of
intervention. Especially for a topic (like restoration) in which the first
suggestion to give the authorized staff is deep listening, respect
and timely care of the document/monument: the same suggestion
given by the ancient medical School of Salerno, that recommended
"primum non nocere" (first of all: do not damage).
The heart of our question is, "the wider and urgent need for preservation" of a
common heritage that is and will be (until it survives as a document)
"the most direct witness of human history and civilization", as Bruno
Molajoli, General Manager of Antiques and Fine Arts in 1964, says
in this volume.
MBD
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