Each restoration of a historic object must fulfil the requirements outlined in Act No. 20/1987 Coll., on State Heritage Preservation, as amended. Restoration is included in the system of repair and renovation in §14 of the Act, as follows:
"If the owner of a cultural heritage object is considering carrying out maintenance, repair, reconstruction, conservation-restoration of, or any other modification of cultural heritage items or their environment (henceforth renovation), they are required to obtain a binding opinion from the municipality beforehand."
Restoration is further mentioned in §14a, where the first clause states:
"Conservation-restoration of cultural heritage objects or parts thereof, that are works of fine or decorative art, must be undertaken by a natural person of unrestricted legal capacity and with a clean criminal record, on the basis of a permit (see 'license to restore')."
The process of acquiring a 'license to restore' is described in the following clauses of §14a; while the process for citizens of foreign countries is described in §14b and §14c.
Which activities can best be described as 'conservation-restoration'?
"Conservation-restoration" of "national heritage artworks" can generally be defined as "activity aimed at reducing the degree of their decay and the consequent extinguishment over time of the inherent information and artistic communication".
"Conservation-restoration" of works of fine or decorative art can be described as activity during which old structures are conserved to preserve their authentic value. The point of the intervention/restoration is to preserve as many as possible of the values and functions of the work hopefully intact.
In the context of national heritage artworks, the word 'restoration' (in the narrow sense of the word) may be used to indicate various methods of specialised treatment that can result in a change in appearance - as opposed to mere conservation.
By contrast, 'conservation' (in the narrow sense of the word) refers to only those specialised treatments of the material substance of the 'national heritage artworks' that should prolong the life of the existing material and the information that the object takes through time, without changing its appearance.
The concept of authenticity plays a key role in the field of 'conservation-restoration'; this refers to the genuineness of the 'national heritage artwork', its originality and faithfulness in terms of the period, author and location, as well as the genuineness of its materials.
All of the above-mentioned general requirements must be considered during each concrete act of conservation-restoration. This must be based on the evaluation of rigorous restoration research, and must also take into consideration new findings that may come to light during the process of conservation.
In accordance with the Venice Charter the conservation-reservation of works of fine or decorative art must be accompanied by full documentation in the form of a written analytical and critical report, illustrated with drawings, copies, photographs, designs, etc. Records must be made of the conditions the artwork is in, and of the technical and formal signs indicating the process of its origin and history. Furthermore, all the conservation-restoration phases and all materials and methods used should also be documented. The documentation should contain precise data about the schedules of research and diagnosis, and their evaluation.