The conservation of monuments and historic sites is one of the most challenging problems facing modern civilization. It involves a number of factors belonging to different fields (cultural, humanistic, social, technical, economical, administrative), intertwining in inextricable patterns. In particular, the requirements of safety and use appear (and often actually are) in conflict with the respect of the integrity of the monuments.
In almost all countries of the world the conservation is looked after by an official trained in Art History or Archaeology. He has generally the control of any action to be undertaken, and imposes constraints and limitations that sometimes appear unreasonable to the engineer.
The engineer, in turn, tends to achieve safety by means of solutions which appear unacceptable to the official in charge of conservation, sometimes
mechanically applying procedures and regulations conceived for new structures.
It is evident that some equilibrium has to be found between the safe fruition of a monument and the respect of its integrity. The former task belongs to
the know‐how of any well trained and experienced engineer, while the latter one is more difficult, being the same concept of integrity rather elusive.
The difficulty of the problem is increased by the lack of a general theory, universally accepted and guiding the behaviour of the actors involved as the
Mechanics does with the structural engineer.
The possibility of finding in practice an acceptable equilibrium is linked to the development of a shared culture. The International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering contributed to this development by an ad hoc
Committee (TC 19 – Conservation of Monuments and Historic Sites), that has been promoted over 25 years ago by French and Italian engineers (Jean
Kerisel, Arrigo Croce). A number of international and regional symposia have been organised, always with large audience and lively discussions.
A Lecture dedicated to Jean Kerisel will be given for the first time at the next International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering to be held in 2013 in Paris.
In this framework, the Technical Committee (now TC301) is organising the 2nd International Symposium on Geotechnical Engineering for the Preservation of Monuments and Historic Sites, which will be held in Napoli on May 2013.
Its aim is that of comparing experiences, presenting important achievements and new ideas, establishing fruitful links.