A folio from a 15th-century French illuminated manuscript, depicting relics. For example, they held religious relics to be authentic not by proofs of origin but by their begetting of miracles. Courtesy the J. Paul Getty Museum. In the realm of heritage, authenticity becomes as fragile and evanescent as it is pervasive. Popular fascination with antiquity and art erodes not only authentic fabric and ambience but public faith in the very concept of authenticity.
Overuse mocks the very word.
That should have been your first tip-off. Authority and Veracity Authenticity is an ancient concept of ever-changing meaning, functions, and criteria. In architectural relics and objects of art, heritage veracity has variously attached to materials and forms, to origins, to the fame or notoriety of the owners of such works, and to erosions and restorations. The word authentic conflates Greek and Latin terms for authoritative and original. Through late medieval times, authority and originality were entitled to credence, respect, and obedience.