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Arrested decay is the limited preservation of abandoned or ruined buildings. It was coined by theU.S. State ofCalifornia to explain its approach to the preservation of theghost town ofBodie. The concept is most frequently invoked in relation to the preservation of war ruins asmemorials.
AtBodie State Historic Park, the structures will be maintained, but only to the extent that they will not be allowed to fall over or otherwise deteriorate in a major way. Any building that was standing in 1962, when Bodie became a State Park, may be rebuilt or preserved as the photographs of 1962 showed them.[1] By putting new roofs on the buildings, rebuilding foundations, and resealing glass that is in window frames, the State is able to keep buildings from naturally decaying.
Eastern State Penitentiary inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, uses a similar system, though it uses the term "preserved ruin."
The authorities inVukovar,Croatia decided to keep theold water tower in the city as it is found today and as it had become after the war — damaged byartillery.
Several buildings destroyed in theSecond World War have been preserved in their ruined condition as memorials. These include part of the facade of theAnhalter Bahnhof and the belfry of theKaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The authorities inSarajevo,Bosnia have also preserved the building of the daily newspaperOslobođenje to this day the way it was shelled during theBosnian War.
In 1996, theHiroshima Peace Memorial was acknowledged as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. Originally completed in 1905, the building was known at the time of theHiroshima atomic bomb explosion on August 6, 1945, as theHiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Although suffering considerable damage, it was the closest structure to thehypocenter of the explosion to withstand the blast without being leveled to the ground. It has been preserved in the condition it was in after the bombing to serve as a symbol of hope forworld peace andnuclear disarmament.
Oradour-sur-Glane was a village in theLimousinrégion ofFrance that was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants – men, women and children – were murdered by aGermanWaffen-SS company. Although a new village was built after World War II, away from the ruins of the former village, the old village – the site of the massacre – still stands as a memorial to the dead and as being representative of similar sites and events. Part of the memorial includes items recovered from the burned-out buildings: watches stopped at the time their owners were burned alive; glasses melted from the intense heat; and various personal items and money.