On our first day of field work at Park Muskau, we took a tour of the new Schloss and the pleasure gardens surrounding the castle.
Apparent to me throughout the tour was the painstaking care taken by the park's directors to find some version of authenticity in the repair and restoration of the recently destroyed castle. Upon reflection, I also feel that the search for authenticity at Muskau was sometimes contradictory or inconsistent- yet in the best possible way. Maybe instead we could call it a 'multiple' work of restoration. Historic preservation (a field which I have relatively little experience in, either reading or otherwise) has several camps in terms of restoring historic sites, and the directors at Park Muskau dipped into multiple camps to create a rich and layered space.
Within the discourse of what is authentic, some preservationists seek some sort of historic snapshot- a recreation of the landscape or built environment that is as close to indistiguishable from the 'original' as possible. Care is taken to use the same materials that would have been found at a specific target date. I saw this type of preservation at Park Muskau in the 19th century cultivars of apples and roses that were planted on the castle grounds.
Another camp prefers a revamped technique, one that covers up with modern materials the old site, making it usable and relavant to contemporary audiences. The sheetrocking throughout the ground floor of the schloss and, most notably, the gift shop space come to mind.
Of course, whether preservationists intend to or not, the sites in which they work contain a layered history of materials from various eras and the intention to return to some 'original form' becomes a fool's errand. However, there is something to be said about creating an immersive experience that can bring the audience back in time. (What to do?!)
As I've said, the directors' at Park Muskau did an outstanding job of marrying the original with the novel, of layering the histories of the new schloss at Muskau. Frequently, the restoration of the site was made obvious to the viewer. Stones used to repair brick walls were clearly unoriginal, purple beech trees planted within the dead trunk of a previous individuals were clearly recent additions. At the same time, the directors used old photographs, paintings, letters and other written records to recreate seemingly original elements such as the reflective glass chunks as a ground plane element in the rosary garden. Ultimately, it was a great experience to not only hear but touch and see the different techniques used at the new Schloss and consider what implications these have for the historic preservation of other important cultural landscapes.