Environment Protection – Monument Preservation András Veöreös Department of History of Architecture and Urbanism, Széchenyi István University, Egyetem tér 1, H-9026 Győr, Hungary. E-mail: andras.veoreos@gmail.com ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Received: 19 October 2022 • Accepted: 30 January 2023 First published online: 27 February 2023 © 2023 The Author SUMMARY Te preservation of existing buildings is desirable not only for the purpose of saving architectural values, but equally important is that it is an environmentally friendly–environmentally conscious activity as well, since by renovating existing houses less waste is generated, the environmental impact from transport de- creases, the material and energy invested in the structures already built do not get lost and no additional energy is needed for demolition. KEYWORDS preservation of monuments, sustainable use of built environment, long-term interest, non-renewable re- search, monument value, re-utilization, environmentally friendly solutions of historic architecture, renova- tion of old buildings 1. INTRODUCTION It is worth starting the discussion about the relationships between conservation of monuments and environmental protection by recalling the work of Francis of Assisi, an important fgure of world history instinctively associated with both areas. One of the frst acts of Francis was to re- store a ruined chapel near Assisi, to fll the abandoned building with function so he did conser- vation and environmental protecting work at the same time by means of reusing an existing building. Due to his back-to-nature mind expressed also in the Canticle of the Sun, Pope John Paul II inaugurated him as Patron Saint of the Environment. Te aim of architecture, human constructing activities is, as in each period of history, to create spaces which can fulfl functions determined by communities or individuals and in- clude people and activities. In order to do this, every community and every era uses the avail- Építés – Építészettudomány 51 (2023) 1–2, 139–161 DOI: 10.1556/096.2023.00081 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 03/29/23 02:49 PM UTC