The context of the Venice Charter (1964)

The Venice Charter has been the benchmark for principles governing architectural conservation/restoration for over thirty years. We asked Jukka Jokilehto to comment on the context in which it was drawn up. Now often referred to simply as the 'Venice Charter', the correct full name of this document (of which we print the text in an appendix) is: 'The International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites', adopted by the IInd International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments, Venice, 1964.