"Don't look at buildings, watch them", says John Ruskin: Far from being static and immutable, historic buildings are subject to change. This protean character has positive aspects as the cultural significance of a place can increas through acquiring new layers, but the dangers of decay and insensitive interventions into historic fabric are obvious enough. The main task of Architectural Conservation may be seen not in preventing change, but in managing it in a way that retains cultural significance rather than reducting it.This book gives an overwiew of the many facets of Architectural Conservation - its history and the development of this Theories, its main topics and tasks. Originally written for a German audience, it focusses on the history and situation of Conservation in Germany within the international context.