Shuravina Marina A. — Udmurt Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, leading specialist of the Department of Historical Research at the Institute of History, Language, and Literature
E-mail: mixmar97@mail.ru

In the field of scientific restoration, the most “acute” issue is still the issue of the intervention into the object. Over the course of more than a century, several methodological schools, basic principles and areas of work have already been formed in Russian restoration, but the theoretical aspects of conservation and restoration procedures remain poorly understood due to the special focus of scientific papers on the description of applied techniques. This work is an attempt to define the main task of restoration, the boundaries and the relationship between, as it may seem, similar terms such as “renovation”, “reconstruction”, “conservation”, “repair”. The purpose of this work is to analyze the problem of “what is allowed” in restoration. The article examines the main documents and domestic publications, devoted to the terminology of conservation and restoration and the possibility of the “surgical” intervention into the object; indicates some features of the preservation of objects of historical and cultural heritage that need treatment. Special attention is paid to the differentiation of the perception of the term “restoration” in public and scientific circles. It is concluded that there are several factors in the use of the term “restoration” that limit actions related to the object. Among them: the object of the treatment is an artifact with a confirmed historical and cultural significance; an absence of terms and definitions; a recognized by the scientific community methodology or (when developing a new methods) the use of materials corresponding to the basic principles of restoration, a qualified master restorer. The article also confirms the need for individual consideration of each restoration object and the importance of collegial decision-making on complex issues.

Archeology, artifact, conservation and restoration work, historical and cultural heritage, historicism, monument unveiling, principles of restoration.