Preventive conservation: a concept suited to the conservation of earthen architectural heritage?

9 p.The concept of "preventive conservation" is relatively old as it has already been indirectly quoted by the end of the 19th century. As its definition implies, the theory of preventive conservation has been developed mainly in the context of work on movable heritage. Yet the concept appears to apply in an equal manner to built heritage, and more specifically to earthen architectural heritage, whose basic raw material is usually fragile by nature and in some circumstances can decay relatively fast. Actually, earthen architecture is varied, but one of its characteristics is that for each typology, that there is always a specific way for ensuring its durability, or at least to ensure that the risk of damage is minimized. This is achieved by implementing a whole variety of measures that depend on the physical, economic and social context of the site. What is interesting to note is that all these measures are aimed at protecting and extending the life expectancy of the structures in question which strongly links them in with the concept of preventive conservation. This pleads in favour of the conclusion that preventive conservation is by its very nature a concept well adapted to earthen structures. Taking into account climate changes that brings about unusual situations tend to reinforce the suitability of the concept, as the effect of natural disasters can be anticipated. The paper discusses the suitability and limits of the concept to the conservation of earthen architectural heritage, through both a theoretical analysis and concrete cases. It is concluded with recommendations for its implementation, taking account the intrinsic specificities and both the tangible and intangible values of the heritage considered for conservation