Historic preservation, whether of landscapes or buildings, was an important development of the nineteenth century in many countries. There is however surprisingly little understanding about how it took place. In order to begin unlocking a very complex phenomenon that has helped to define our own age, this dynamic collection of essays brings together a transdisciplinary line-up of academics and practitioners to reconsider preservation's origins.

Professor, Melanie Hall, Art History Department, Boston University, USA

Contents: Foreword: facing the past, Charles Dellheim; Introduction: towards world heritage, Melanie Hall; Part I Case Studies: Niagara Falls: preservation and the spectacle of Anglo-American accord, Melanie Hall; Redeeming holy wisdom: Britain and St Sophia, Erik Goldstein; Early preservation efforts in Sri Lanka: William H. Gregory at Anuradhapura and Kandy, Anne M. Blackburn; Conflict and neglect: between ruin and preservation at the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Raymond Cohen; 'The shrine at Sulgrave': the preservation of the Washington ancestral home as an 'English Mount Vernon' and transatlantic relations, T.G. Otte. Part II Framing the Practice: The law's delay? Preservation legislation in France, Germany and England, 1870-1914, Astrid Swenson; Heritage and its communities: reflections on the English experience in the 19th and 20th centuries, Chris Miele; America's early historic preservation movement (1850-1930) in a transatlantic context, Michael Holleran; Conservation and the professions: the Swedish context 1880-1920, Ola Wetterberg; Rethinking the 'powers of darkness': an anti-history of the preservation movement in Britain, Peter Mandler; Bibliography; Index.