The Status of Wood in the Finnish Architectural Heritage

What is it about?

For a long time, the wooden architectural heritage was disregarded in the international conservation guidelines and in the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the Finnish context, the disdain of timber buildings is both endemic and adapted from foreign countries through international conservation discourse. In search for the cause of this contempt, the article identifies the underrating of wood being related to its material performance, the timber building tradition, the peripheral location, and the subsequent connotations adopted and expressed by Finnish heritage professionals. This article examines timber heritage through international guidelines on building conservation. The guidelines are elected in accordance with their topic and the impact on the Finnish architectural heritage dis-course. The international guidelines are compared with extracts from the Finnish conservation de-bate at the time. The article concludes that the increase in knowledge of repair contributed to the appreciation of Finnish wooden architectural heritage.

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