The Conflict of Contemporary Architectural Heritage Between Theory and Practice: Image, Consumption and Use

Contemporary society’s interest in conserving built heritage has grown largely due to the tourism industry, one of the most profitable in the world. Despite the advantages of this relationship, contradicting issues have become evident in historic architectural heritage sites, revealing a rupture between theoretical propositions and practical interventions, and conflicts in the understanding of particularities and functions of these specific buildings. Although the dichotomy of extreme restoration versus pure conservation dates back to the 19^th century, this analysis focuses on contemporary issues that intensify these conflicts of value, such as notions of “presentification” and crisis of historicity, image, and spectacle. Conserving heritage is a mechanism of resistance to death and oblivion, but the spectacularization of monuments prefers an idealized, young, pleasant, and ultimately consumable image to the conservation of its authenticity and its relationship with time. Four examples of historic Brazilian cities will be analyzed as well as the complex and often contradicting values in the contemporary restoration of historic sites.