The Historical and Intellectual Course of Development in Preserving the Cultural Heritage from the Perspective of Conceptual Status of Integrity

Integrity is among the fundamental concepts in the field of cultural heritage and the importance of knowing this concept and examining its status in the philosophical principles of perseverance is so great that achieving integrity is introduced as among the basic criteria of optimal preservation of historical monuments. Integrity has always been open to discussion in different historical periods، but because of different impressions made of this concept، it has been used with a different meaning in every period. This article is aimed at finding an answer to the question as to what the conceptual status of integrity is as one of the basic principles of cultural heritage in the theory of preservation and what process it has followed from the middle ages up to the present era; and، in general، what role has the meaning and value had in the philosophical principles of preservation as well as in the category of integrity? The findings obtained from the study of the sources and data indicates the semantic limits، the status، and the degree of importance of integrity in the course of preservation history and clarifies that this concept is one of the basic principles that has to be perpetually supported in all the fields of cultural heritage، to such an extent that discrediting this important matter would diminish the value of the monumental work and the only way to preserve the universal values is to preserve their integrity.