Preservation of Architectural Monuments and Provision of Their Mechanical Safety
The paper considers the issues of provision of safety of the cultural heritage sites. It is noted that the provision of mechanical safety of an object can contradict the task of monument preservation. Modern construction codes on mechanical safety have not been elaborated for monuments. Therefore, their application without thinking can be detrimental for a site of cultural heritage. It is proposed to introduce the requirement that a designer forms a special evidence base on the necessity of modern intervention into a monument structure. There is a need to reinforce a monument only if the necessity is proven, in the absence of an adequate alternative solution of the problems of mechanical safety using restoration methods. The paper shows a menace of blind compliance with such provisions of the codes as countermeasures against progressive failure, or the necessity to accept a level of actual loads for new buildings envisaged in the codes. Soil-structure interaction numerical modeling is proposed as a tool to search the most efficient scenarios for reinforcement of a historical building.