Monument care in denial : Conservationist testimonies on the protection of heritage properties during the period of late socialism
Abstract
This collection of interviews with seven prominent figures in the Czech monument care community offers testimonies about the protection of heritage properties during the period of Normalization, a reflection on the changes in the field after 1989, and a close look at their specific professional lives. The interviews with Josef Bláha, Jan Frídl, Jan Kozdas, Aleš Krejčů, Václav Paukrt, Dagmar Sedláková, and Josef Štulc cover the period from the 1970s to the beginning of the new millennium.
They focus on changes in the field of heritage care in different regions (Brno, České Budějovice, Olomouc, Pardubice, Prague, Central Bohemia) and different professional areas (the director of the State Institute of Monument Care and the director of one of the regional departments; a hands-on guarantor with a lifelong dedication to the protection of properties in the Znojmo region; an archaeologist and conservationist responsible for the registration of cultural heritage properties; a guarantor for restoration and an expert responsible for the management and maintenance of accessible objects). The result is a vivid picture of how complex, multi-faceted, and non-black and white the fate of conservation has been over the last fifty years.