Towards the knowledge of cultural heritage for conservation

The essay proposes protocols for the knowledge of historical contexts, it researches renewed procedural actions for conservation interventions and requalification of architectural assets. Addressing actions of valorization on heritage means referring to analytical procedures from which to draw the significant characteristics of the assets and their architectural and urban evolution. This process leads to the formulation of the project of knowledge that precedes the conservation project. A first cognitive phase is identified in the exegetical reading of the documents, indispensable for the historical reconstruction and the diachronic phases of the asset. The study of ancient iconographies from which testimonies are made for the understanding of permanences and changes over time is determining. The cognitive phases are articulated in other analytical moments such as the buiding evaluation, of the types and of the aggregative logics, the comparison between the historical cadastals, the studies of stylistic characteristics, the analysis of materials, construction techniques and degradation. The method phases have been verified on architectural assets in many historical centers of Calabria, the essay proposes some of the results achieved. Lastly, the method is specified in operations of comparison and overlapping of the data extracted from the sources and from the different analyzes, thus configuring the project of knowledge, which is essential for conservation actions and for returning assets to the contemporary.