The Development of an International Doctrine. The First Thirty Years of ICOMOS

In legal terminology, a "doctrine" refers to a significant rule, set of rules, theory, or principle widely accepted within a legal field, often shaped through the consistent application of precedent. Labeling a framework as doctrinal typically implies that it is either central to the field or offers a comprehensive means of resolving a particular class of disputes. Since its foundation and the adoption of the Venice Charter, ICOMOS has made the formulation of such principles a central part of its mission. Over the past six decades, ICOMOS has produced eleven international charters and approximately fifteen other key documents (principles, guidelines, declarations, etc.), with additional complementary or alternative texts emerging from its national committees. The organization has also played an instrumental role in shaping major doctrinal instruments produced by UNESCO and the Council of Europe.
Although a comprehensive historiography of this body of theoretical work remains unwritten, this contribution seeks to illuminate part of this history by examining a selection of documents from the first three decades of ICOMOS’s existence. Drawing on archival material from the Lemaire Collection housed at KU Leuven, this study focuses not on the content of these texts, but rather on the processes of their drafting and dissemination. The documents examined include the World Heritage Convention (1972), the European Charter on the Architectural Heritage (1975), the Nairobi Recommendation (1976), the attempts to revise the Venice Charter (1975–1981), the Washington Charter (1987), and the Nara Document (1994).
By reconstructing ICOMOS’s role in the development and circulation of these key documents, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of one of the organization's foundational activities. It also seeks to inform contemporary debates about the feasibility and desirability of a universal doctrine in a global context that increasingly emphasizes the cultural specificity and diversity of heritage values, policies, and practices.