From Static Preservation to Dynamic Continuity: The Historical Evolution of Architectural Heritage Restoration Methods

Architectural heritage restoration has expanded rapidly, yet its knowledge base remains fragmented across materials, structural assessment, digital technologies, and conservation management. This study maps the field’s historical evolution and intellectual structure through a bibliometric review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), comprising 248 English-language articles and reviews indexed in Web of Science from 1997 to April 2026. VOSviewer version 1.6.20, CiteSpace version 6.4.R1, and Bibliometrix version 5.4.1 were used to analyse publication trends, co-occurrence networks, citation structures, and thematic evolution. Four findings emerge: (1) restoration has shifted from localized, experience-based repair toward evidence-based, integrated conservation; (2) research has progressed from strength-oriented intervention to material compatibility, authenticity, and continued use; (3) digital technologies are evolving from static documentation toward knowledge integration, predictive diagnosis, and life-cycle management; and (4) preventive conservation increasingly links cultural value, environmental exposure, resilience, and multi-hazard risk. Five interdependent domains—material restoration, digital modelling, non-destructive testing, restoration resilience, and preventive conservation—structure the field. The study proposes an iterative framework integrating value assessment, material–structural evidence, digital information, risk prevention, and long-term maintenance to support dynamic continuity in architectural heritage conservation.