An Inquiry on Post Armed Conflict Conservation Actions and Interventions on Architectural Heritage

Culturally significant buildings enrich our lives by instilling a profound and inspiring feeling of belonging to our identity and culture. They represent our communities' rich diversity and teach us about the history that has shaped us. Architectural heritage generate nostalgic emotions and memories of a bygone period. It is irreplaceable and valuable; and as such, it must be conserved and carried on for future generations. However, this is not a simple endeavor; cultural heritage is under constant threat from a number of misfortunes, such as misuse, abandonment, natural catastrophes, conflict, and, most critically, armed conflict. Armed conflicts, apart from claiming lives, have a tremendous impact on human values, cultures, and beliefs. For years, conflicts have obliterated ethnic communities' heritage and existence, not just by pushing people to flee, but also by erasing all evidence of their history and their existence. Armed conflicts have repercussions for cultural heritage sites, whether directly through the damage they cause on built heritage leading to its demolition or devastation, or indirectly through the effects they leave behind, like building neglect or lack of conservation funding owing to economic decline caused by conflict. The conservation of conflict-damaged heritage requires a wide assortment of specialized techniques. Ideally, the process should maintain historical features and values whilst also adapting the historic architecture. Most importantly, the conservation process should be used as a tool of reconciliation and an essential component of the post-conflict recovery process. The purpose of this thesis is to examine conservation actions taken on post-conflict heritage, and make a classification of different conservation actions and interventions made in different contexts and situations. In order to learn from both positive and negative examples; the effects of post-conflict actions and interventions have been examined by analyzing five case studies of architectural heritage affected from different events of armed conflict around the world. Finally, the research concludes with recommendations and suggestions for minimizing or mitigating potential harm during future conflicts based on the theoretical background as well as the lessons learned from the analyzed cases. Keywords: Cultural Heritage, Conservation, Adaptation, Armed Conflict, Architectural Heritage, Interior Architecture, Post Conflict Conservation.