Summary of the Proceedings and Papers Presented at - World ...

Principles and ideas for the future
Twelve Principles spell out what the participants felt
should be the overriding concerns of all disciplines
concerned with the conservation and presentation
of Pompeii. They recognized first that achieving sustainability
for a site as complex as Pompeii is necessarily a
multi-faceted program involving managing and striking a balance
between the requirements of conservation, territorial
management and tourism.
Those ideas for the future emerged from an even longer
list of considerations and actions. The essence of these
considerations fall into six categories, including planning,
research and documentation, maintenance and conservation,
education, site management and policy, and goals for
the next ten years. The first of these goals calls for a regular
meeting of the various disciplines and professions working in
Pompeii. Future symposia could develop specific agendas in
order to address the most pressing issues, resulting in more
detailed conclusions and recommendations for action.
Twelve Principles Drafted at the WMF
Pompeii Symposium of November 2003
1. Achieving a sustainable Pompeii is a combination of
conservation management, territorial management and
tourism management.
2. The main task of conservation management is to manage
change.
3. Conservation should be the ultimate goal. All other
interests, including tourism and commercial, should be
taken into careful consideration but they should not take
precedence.
4. A significant heritage site that is completely closed to
tourism will be even more vulnerable to deterioration.
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5. Accommodating modern life at sites such as Pompeii
and Herculaneum is a conservation action in and of
itself.
6. Viable, constantly updated conservation plans are
crucial to effective management of large heritage sites.
7. Sites such as Pompeii are places of memory even more
than they are places of discovery and beauty: our
conservation interventions should keep this in mind.
8. All conservation projects should rigorously examine
prior conservation interventions.
9. Given that the houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum
have been subject to many changes both during
antiquity and since their discovery, all modern
conservation interventions should discuss and consider
the value of these changes.
10. The ruins of Pompeii are unique. In addition to the
wide range of ruins, the fine finishes and details were
instantly encapsulated in a preservative material.
Any conservation intervention today must thoroughly
research appropriate and specific methods and
techniques to effectively conserve archaeological fabric
when exposed.
11. Sharing the experience of investigating and conserving
the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum holds great
promise for educating and engaging the visiting public.
More efforts should be made to exhibit and engage the
public in these ongoing activities.
12. A major objective at heritage sites such as Pompeii and
Herculaneum is education.