Rediscovering culture with church conservation

Posted by audreytaylor on June 14th, 2013

Churches have always had an extremely important role in society and have been vehicles for culture from their very beginning. Talking about their architecture, they are very distinguishable among other, normal buildings, and some, most of them actually, are important historic and aesthetic monuments. To preserve their beauty, church conservation services are needed.

Some of the most important monuments in the world are related to divinity and created for that communion between man and God. The architecture of these monuments, and specifically churches, is thus very different than any other type of architecture, as these edifices were created to represent the higher nature of man and where he should aspire. Although there are modest churches too, most of them are built on a larger scale, with high roofs and imposing statures. The problem is that, with time, even such masterpieces need restoration, because time has its effects on everything we create. Since many of these churches are also historic monuments, some being hundreds of years old, they need church conservation plans in order to be able to last.

While our era looks at things in a more or less simplistic manner, reducing architecture to basic lines and simple designs, our ancestors loved adding character to everything they created, and churches have always been very personal places. Nowadays, it would be very difficult to construct such edifices, because, in part, we no longer have those techniques, and because there was immense labour put into creating such monuments. Thus, we can only look for church conservation to preserve these wonderful places. Specialists who deal with these services can provide many solutions, depending on the edifice, the materials used in creating in, the state it is in, the technology available etc. One of the biggest concerns and problems is the roof, often very high and prone to damage. A lightning protection system may also be needed.

Weather can have destructive effects on any building, and the roof is, clearly, one of the most vulnerable places in any building. Thus, installing a lightning protection system is a good preventive measure for keeping the church safe. This lightning protection system has to be effective in protecting the edifice but it also has to be inconspicuous, making sure it doesn’t interfere with the aesthetics of the building, especially if we are talking about a historic monument. Thus, any church restoration project should include a lightning protection systemalong with other systems which can prevent future damage to the building. Other services may include the restoration of towers and spires, stonework, repairing timber structures, rain water goods inspection and works and a whole range of other services which can revive such an edifice.

Working with experienced church conservation staff is a must, in order for the church to regain its beauty and function. These places will always be community focal points, as they have been throughout history, so it’s important that we keep them beautiful and take care of them, just as our ancestors passed them on to us.

Church conservation specialists have solutions for repairing damage to these historic edifices, but also for preventing future damage, by installing certain systems, such as a lightning protection system.