Preservation at it's Best

Historical Preservation is something I have been passionate about since I spent time in Egypt. While I was there I spent time working on multiple sites not just helping with archeological digs but so many of their ancient buildings are in the process of serious historical preservation.

Most of my time was spent in The Temples of Dendera. This complex is hailed as one of the best preserved temple complexes in all of Egypt. Which, coming in at over 40,000 square meters, is quite impressive. I spent most of my time helping preserve and clean a small section of ceiling. Egyptians take so much pride in the preservation of these historical sites. Unlike most other cultures most of Egypts historical artifacts and sites are not kept behind glass. I often refer to Egypt as the world’s largest touch museum. I’m not telling you to go and run your hands over everything you see in Egypt but when you think about preservation one often thinks about keeping things behind glass.

While I was reading Cauvin he mentions that he believes the movement of a structure can not be considered historical preservation. I completely disagree. In the 1960’s Egypt was

about to lose a massive temple structure named Abu Simbel due to a nearby lake that was predicted to flood. The government intervened and decided to dismantle and reconstruct this temple to a high location to preserve the building from being lost to the elements. I believe that this is a type of historical preservation. One of Egypt’s national treasures would have been gone forever and that not only would be detrimental to Egypt’s history and identity but also to the economical ramifications of losing an important tourist destination.

I will admit my knowledge of American historical preservation is limited. Through reading Cauvin, Ourossoff, and Stipe I realize the process of applying, being granted, and the preservation process is a lot harder and longer than in European and Middle Eastern countries. I found myself questioning the why of this. Governments on both sides make the final decision and I know many European countries depend on their historical sites as tourist destinations. I began to wonder if maybe the historical preservation of these sites was an economic decision and less of a historical significance decision. It’s possible that the United States looks at the historical significance over will restoring and preserving this structure bring financial gain. I’m unsure of the answer. What I can say is I have yet to go to a European country or the Middle East and not seen preservationists hard at work.

Bibliography

Cauvin, Thomas. “Historic Preservation.” In Public History. 53-88. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Ouroussoff, Nicolai. “An Architect’s Fear that Preservation Distorts.” New York Times, May 23, 2011.

Stipe, Robert E., ed. A Richer Heritage: Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.