Managing Historic Sites and Buildings: Balancing Presentation and Preservation

Preservation and presentation are central activities in the conservation of the historic environment. But are they mutually supportive or do they work against each other? Managing Historic Sites and Buildings looks at the choices and tensions that exist in the conservation and interpretation of sites of heritage. In essays discussing a variety of locations - from a prehistoric sacred site to World War II military remains, from a medieval monastery to a 1970s housing estate - contributors look at contemporary concerns and debates about the way that the past is shaped, physically and metaphorically, by these two aspects of heritage management. Arguing that the fundamental purpose of the whole process is to communicate understanding about the human past, the collection explores the crucial relationship between preserving historic places and promoting an awareness of their significance.