Historic preservation is an interdisciplinary activity, the basis of which is the scholarly examination of the given structure from a historical perspective.
Research on historic properties and old buildings covers a varied range of activities. Its primary goal is to understand the construction history of the given property, including the processes of its construction and alterations.
There can be two solutions for achieving this. One includes gathering the surviving written and pictorial sources, studying the publications produced to that point, and the critical analysis all of these. To do this, a prominent role is played by archives, libraries and museums that preserve documents, in addition to the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center’s own collections in this field.
The other segment of the research is on-site fieldwork. This may include surveying and making an inventory of the character-defining features of a building (list of elements to be retained) or performing analytical investigations on the physical elements of a building (physical building research), a method that is also used by our institution. During this work, the hidden and previously unknown details and relations of the building can be uncovered and documented. In addition to being prescribed by law, the historic property research provides assistance in making sure that the rehabilitation of the properties will occur in as authentic a manner as possible while taking into account their character-defining features.
The Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Center also deals with basic research into historic properties in accordance with the duties stipulated by law. This represents the creation of repositories, handbooks and databases that may assist experts in the field of historic preservation in their professional work. This may include an inventory of historic properties for a given geographical area, or even a thematic analysis of a given historic ensemble.
During both the basic and the applied research, we work together with our historic preservation partner institutions and the official heritage preservation agency. The publication of the results of this research related to architectural and cultural history and its presentation at conferences, exhibitions and in the context of higher education is also a part of our work.