preservation

Etymology

From Old French preservacion, from Medieval Latin preservatio. Morphologically preserve + -ation.

noun

1. The act of preserving; care to preserve; act of keeping from destruction, decay or any ill.
   Every seneseless thing by nature's light Doth preservation seek, destruction shun c. 1600, Sir John Davies, The Original, Nature, and Immortality of the Soul
   , Book II, Chapter XXI our all-wise Maker, suitably to our constitution and frame, and knowing what it is that determines the will, has put into man the uneasiness of hunger and thirst, and other natural desires, that return at their seasons, to move and determine their wills, for the preservation of themselves, and the continuation of their species
   Tons of engine sheds would bite the dust with the end of steam, and many would be demolished with their time in the spotlight over. We're lucky that the one at Didcot survived into preservation. December 29 2021, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 61
2. The state of being preserved, how something has survived.
   As Edwin Clark … wrote in 1850: "… The lofty towers of the castle overhang the western approach to the Bridge, and the line passes into Conway through an opening pierced in the embattled wall, which entirely surrounds the town. These fortifications are in good preservation, and rank among the most perfect examples of the strongholds of the 13th century." January 12 2022, Dr. Joseph Brennan, “Castles: ruined and redeemed by rail”, in RAIL, number 948, page 54