War-Damaged Built Heritage Since 1945: Multilevel Damage Profiles, Structured Recovery Contrasts and a Provisional Conservation Triage Framework

Armed conflict affects built heritage through immediate damaging actions and subsequent deterioration, but these processes must be distinguished from damage manifestations and affected components. This study compares 25 documented asset-damage records from a source-bounded purposive frame of 30 candidates across 11 countries or territories. Conflict context and attribution, physical actions, damage manifestations, affected components and cumulative conditions are coded at separate analytical levels. Physical Loss Class (PLC 0–4) is used only as a unit-dependent index for comparison within this sample. The revised coding records explosive or projectile action in 23 cases, fire or thermal exposure in 6 cases, and mechanical dismantling in 3 cases; actions overlap. Reduced-unit, overlap-reduced and building-only subsets expose the sensitivity of these descriptions to the analytical scale. Three structured contrasts under limited conditions illustrate differing recorded recovery states without matching cases or isolating causal effects. Surviving evidence, access, material compatibility, resources, function and documented authority provide contextual considerations for intervention. The reconstruction–recovery gap is retained as a provisional qualitative decision tool derived from the literature and case evidence. Missing evidence and original wartime fabric loss do not, by themselves, establish a post-reconstruction deficit. A provisional triage sequence links preparedness, separate conflict/safety/access reviews, feasible protection or documented deferral, and subsequent reassessment. International institutional reporting and World Heritage projects dominate the sample; added residential, community and independent technical research broadens interpretation without removing that selection bias. No assessment model is validated.