The paper aims to address the problem of restoring Architectural Heritage (i.e., historic buildings and the tangible historic context that constitute this architectural heritage) damaged by war. The issue is certainly compelling today, especially in countries without a precise, defined principle of restoration and conservation. In this panorama, which affects countries worldwide, it becomes crucial to understand what is perceived today as tangible Cultural Heritage and how its values are interpreted and managed across different institutional levels. To understand this, the paper will be developed in two parts: the first analyses the context in which International Organisations emerged after World War II, and how their approaches to the protection and reconstruction of historic buildings and their tangible “urban” contexts have evolved to the present day. This evolution reflects a progressive shift in the perception of values, from a material and aesthetic understanding of heritage towards a broader recognition of its social and cultural dimensions. To explore this transformation, the study parametrises a set of values to critically analyse and detect both past and ongoing programmes of these Organisations, assessing their objectives, scopes of action, and the extent and limitations of their interventions. Given the limited space of the paper, this part will mainly focus on the tangible aspects of architectural heritage (even if references to its intangible elements will be made for a more complete frame). The other part will develop the importance of defining the principles of what it means to restore, to conserve, and to rebuild. This part is not an easy task because, facing what the war is dealing with right now, a lot of aspects have to be taken into consideration, such as the best way to specifically intervene on a damaged object (both on its material and value aspects), after the first aid interventions guidelines have been completed.
Keywords: Tangible architectural heritage, restoration, conservation, war contexts, parameters, values, international organisations.