This note reviews the book "The Interaction of Restoration and Architectural History in Iran" by Zaatollah Nikzad. The author highlights that this book, emphasizing the relationship between restoration and architectural history, addresses the necessity of preserving architectural works, especially from the perspective of understanding and transmitting the embedded messages within them. The author argues that restoration should not merely be seen as an executive task but as an interpretive and research process, aiming to understand both the architecture and its history. Restorers must benefit from diverse sciences and, in addition to their artistic skills, should possess a proper understanding of architectural history and the creators of historical works. Mokhtari emphasizes that restorers, along with their scientific and technical skills, should engage with historiography and cultural understanding of architectural works, and this understanding should be incorporated into the restoration process. Architectural history must be documented precisely in interaction with the performed restorations to provide primary data for researchers. Ultimately, Mokhtari introduces the restorer as a custodian of architectural history and science, arguing that they should, with precision and responsibility, preserve historical information and evidence and pass them on to future generations. The book "The Interaction of Restoration and Architectural History in Iran" highlights the significance of this new approach in restoration, which should be regarded as the first step in research on Iranian architectural conservation and history.
