Veut-on en finir avec les Monuments historiques ? Un point de vue

A end to Historical Monuments ? The decisions made since the 1980’s about preserving historical monuments have strong consequences, both on the content and the procedures. First on the content, because the intellectual and scientific approach has led to substituting new criterions to those justifying the preservation of the buildings of the past “in the name of art and history”. On the procedures, because the technical and politic choices had brought the decision closer to the reality and made room for new actors. In order to carry out its regalian mission, the State administration has met with great difficulties about the recent heritage ; several 20th century masterpieces are in a pitiful state and town councils, egged on by local societies, have asserted their ability to take charge. Today, the question of the devolution of preservationd has come to a turning-point, with the decision of the government to transfer the ownership of many listed monuments to local authorities. The aim of this paper is to analyse these innovations, to show that the changes in the content and procedures interact with one another and bring about a metamorphosis of preservation. The consequences will be asssessed : do the answers to these new questions lead to firm and lasting solutions or, on the reverse, do they raise dynamic and unexpected problems ?Monnier Gérard. Veut-on en finir avec les Monuments historiques ? Un point de vue. In: Histoire de l'art, N°56, 2005. Patrimoines et Institutions. pp. 5-11