ABSTRACT
As in any profession-be it medicine, law, or any other-good practice is guided by a body of international and national doctrine that is based on theory, experience, and ethics. If a physician doesn’t follow best practices, the patient may die. If an accountant ignores principles of practice, (s)he or the client may end up in jail. If a structural engineer disregards proper practice, the building may collapse. Heritage conservation is much the same, even if the consequences of poor practice are less melodramatic. Without a consensus on overarching principles, there would be nothing to guide the conservation process. The variety of outcomes would be chaotic. Nobody would be able to distinguish good practice from bad, a modified old building from a new one, a skilled conservation architect or planner from an unskilled one.
