David Chipperfield Quotes

A museum has to renew its collection to be alive, but that does not mean we give on important old works.

I love art, and I love history, but it is living art and living history that I love. It is in the interest of living art and living history that I oppose so-called restoration. What history can there be in a building bedaubed with ornament, which cannot at the best be anything but a hopeless and lifeless imitation of the hope and vigor of the earlier world?

Archaeology is not only the hand maid of history, it is also the conservator of art.

If the picture needs varnishing later, I allow a restorer to do that, if there's any restoring necessary.

I definitely am concerned with preservation. For me, what's interesting is the archival state, or how long oil paintings last.

The most basic task of any museum must be the protection of works of cultural significance entrusted to its care for the edification and pleasure of future generations.

Restorers of paintings and pottery follow a code of conduct in their work to distinguish the original material from what they are adding later.

You don't let a historic site rot.

I really don’t make history; I preserve it.

If the arts are in peril, we must do our small part to to fight the good fight and protect and preserve.

Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place in museums; others, we take for walks.

I believe the National Park Service has demonstrated strong partnerships geared towards respecting the private property of citizens in its administering of the current Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and will continue to do so upon the addition of the routes.

High among the unpredictable variables that endanger the survival of worthy buildings are the vagaries of taste.

We are similar to a museum. My function is to present old masterpieces in modern frames.

I was absolutely delighted that those shows have been preserved.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is unsurpassed at presenting more than 50 centuries of work. I go there constantly, seeing things over and over, better than I've ever seen them before.

To the humblest among them, who may be listening to me now, I want to say that the masterpiece to which you are paying historic homage this evening is a painting which he has saved.

Like surgeons trying to save a life, the conservators and preservers at New York City museums dedicate themselves to ensuring the longevity of works of art for public view.

They are all very beautiful, but for the time it is not appropriate to leave them visible. Clean them and cover them over again carefully, so that they may survive until they are revealed to view in the future.

It is for all these buildings, therefore, of all times and styles, that we plead, and call upon those who have to deal with them to put Protection in the place of Restoration, to stave off decay by daily care, to prop a perilous wall or mend a leaky roof by such means as are obviously meant for support or covering, and show no pretence of other art, and otherwise to resist all tampering with either the fabric or ornament of the building as it stands; if it has become inconvenient for its present use, to raise another building rather than alter or enlarge the old one; in fine to treat our ancient buildings as monuments of a bygone art, created by bygone manners, that modern art cannot meddle with without destroying.

Our ancient historical monuments are national property and ought no longer to be left to the mercy of the many and variable ideas of ecclesiastical propriety that may at any time be prevalent among us

The desire to restore everything indiscriminately to its ancient condition is neither wise nor praiseworthy.

You re being handed a national treasure. Your main responsibility is that whenever you may leave it, it still remains a national treasure.

I'm looking at looting photos from space, and there are people putting their lives on the line every day protecting their heritage. I call these people the real culture heroes.

That's what I want to do, ultimately: figure out a way to get the world engaged with discovery and protecting these ancient sites.